


Lord of the Seventh Realm

by TrulyMightyPotato



Series: Royal Expectations [1]
Category: LordMinion777 (YouTube RPF)
Genre: F/M, RPF Fantasy, So be warned, Will edit tags as needed, just mentions of and discussions of it, mentions of torture, no actual showing of it, there will be blood - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-26
Updated: 2016-09-28
Packaged: 2018-07-18 09:32:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 38
Words: 53,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7309627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrulyMightyPotato/pseuds/TrulyMightyPotato
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wade goes to take his place as the new lord of the Seventh Realm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: From Prince to Lord

**Author's Note:**

> It's technically chapter one, but it's really the prologue.  
> Also, I'm not quite sure if I'm formatting things right, so let me know if you find something to be annoying or in need of fixing.

Prince Wade never expected to rule the Realms. Nobody expected it. He was by far not the eldest of his siblings.

In fact, he was so unlikely to inherit the throne that when one of the lords needed someone to take over (since he had been unable to go through with the courtship ceremonies, he had no legal heir and fading nobility magic), Wade readily agreed. 

His mother and his older siblings bid him a fond farewell, making him promise to not only write, but to visit for the major holidays and, of course, when his oldest brother was crowned in a few months. 

That was Wade's major concern as he started on the long journey to his new dominion. His mother, having married into the royal family, couldn't actually be Queen. Only if Wade's sister was crowned would the kingdom have a Queen. And since King Barnes had died so many years before, in that terrible accident, Wade's mother had been serving the Realms as Princess Regent.

Finally, though, Prince Barnes (Wade's older brother) had completed the courtship ceremonies and could take the throne as soon as he was wed.

Royal weddings are difficult and lengthy to plan, though, so there were still six months until that significant date.

And it was a whole month's travel to his new lands. 

Not that Wade was traveling alone. No, he was too valuable for that, even as a Prince-turned-Lord. He'd wanted to move quickly, before his new lands -- the Seventh Realm -- had their protection spells fade. Roads were dangerous, though, especially in the Seventh Realm itself, as the fading magic allowed not only brigands and outlaws to move around more freely, but allowed monsters into the lands.

He had a small party. Himself, of course, and one guard, a common working woman, their horses, a youth whom Wade was the legal caretaker of, and supplies enough to last until they were in the Seventh Realm and could hunt without getting in trouble for poaching.

Patrick, or Pat, had been Wade's personal guard for quite some time. Years. Ever since Wade had had a personal guard. His armor was a bit dented from their adventures into Wade's princely duties, but still functioned perfectly well. Except, perhaps, for the preposterous hat he wore, made of soft knitted yarn. But Pat's wife, the woman that rode with them, had made it and likely enchanted it, so Wade let it slide.

Pat grinned at Wade, as if knowing he was thinking of his companions. "We'll make it there safe."

Marie seemed less thrilled at the adventure, but likely because she had had to leave behind her friends and family to join Pat on this permanent location change.

Wade's third companion, his ward JP, had been silent for quite some time. Hadn't been when the party first left the capital, but Pat had eventually silenced the endless questions about their eventual destination with a map. JP had been struggling with it ever since.

Fortunately for them all, Wade had a significantly more detailed map and was the one navigating. Otherwise, they'd have ended up walking straight off a cliff some dark time.

As they traveled, Wade couldn't help but think of what lay ahead of him. Many would consider this a demotion in rank. It was. Prince to Lord. But that was okay. The Seventh Realm needed someone with nobility magic, and he had some. True, great healing magic wasn't nearly as recognized as great fighting magic, like Wade's sister, or great crowd magic, like Prince Barnes, but it served well. It had saved Pat's life many times, and that was what made Wade feel like the most Barnes and noble he could be.

While Wade had spent many years observing court, he'd never been fond of the strict rules it enforced, how it created a jarring difference between the common people and the nobility.

The common people were supposed to appeal for help from their lords, and the lords were to take any highly difficult or irregular cases to the current ruler. It didn't really work, though.

What conditions would he see as he neared his fortress? His new home was certainly a fortress and not a castle or palace -- it had to serve as the final safety of people if battles and homes were lost.

Would he see thriving towns? Desperate villages? Average communities? What was normal here? Were the market prices reasonable compared to the merchants' break even points and the people's income? How was the punishment part of the law working? The law in general? What could he do to fix it if things were going wrong? Sure, he'd had theoretical and hypothetical training for this sort of thing, but he'd never gotten to practice it.

And the whole fact that Wade still had to go through the courtship ceremonies...

"I don't know where we are." JP's voice broke into Wade's thoughts.

Well, the silence had been nice while it lasted.

"Wait, no, here's a bunch of trees. We're in trees. I found us." JP pointed to a spot on the map some 50 miles in a different direction.

Then JP frowned. "There's a bunch of trees here, too." A pause. "And here. Wait. There are more trees than I expected."

Pat sighed, but Wade stepped in. "We're headed for Septimal. In the Seventh Realm. We started in Primus."

JP traced his finger along the map. "Yeah, but where is the Seventh Realm? I can't find it."

Wade pulled his horse alongside JP's. "It's a border realm, with the Land of the Squirrels next to it on one side and -- "

"And the kingdom with that green-haired prince on the other?" JP interrupted.

Pat rolled his eyes. "It has a name."

"I know." JP pointed at the map. "Here it is. And Primus is here," JP pointed at a different point, "so we're travelling on . . . this road here." He traced a finger along a minor highway.

Wade nodded. "Yes."

"So with trees..." JP paused, then pointed to a spot not far from Primus. "We're here. Still in the First Realm."

Wade nodded again.

"How long is this going to take?"

"A while."

JP frowned. "That's sad." Then he brightened. "Hey, think we'll see some rabbits or deer?"

"Probably for supper at some point." Pat said cheerfully. 

JP looked at Wade. "Can I have one as a pet?"

"Probably not." Wade glanced at the passing foliage. "Keep an eye out for trouble, though."

JP sighed. "Okay."

Wade smiled. They were on their way, and soon enough he'd get to see the sun rise over the Seventh Realm.


	2. Welcome to Septimal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While traveling to the Seventh Realm, Wade gets quite a bit of time to think. And then when he gets to the capital city, his new home, things are a lot messier than he expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try and upload twice a week, but I can't promise I'll maintain that schedule for very long/at all.

They crossed the border into the Seventh Realm two days earlier than planned. They’d been making good time, though, with the exception of the time JP got lost when he went to go look for firewood, so perhaps that wasn’t surprising.

The Seventh Realm was thick with coniferous forests and the occasional leafy tree (usually an aspen). While Wade and his party never encountered a river, several small streams ran along the main road. A few small bridges made it possible for wagons and other wheely things to easily cross, but the horses literally did not care.

At the point they crossed into the Seventh Realm (from the Sixth Realm, actually), there weren’t any signs acknowledging the border or guards making sure criminals weren’t coming through or anything. In fact, the Seventh Realm looked an awful lot like the Sixth Realm.

Wade got tired of being dirty pretty early on. He’d slept on the ground before, when he’d gone hunting with Pat (an experience he was not looking forward to repeating), but not for so long or with a member of the opposite sex. Marie seemed to care significantly less about that than Wade did, but she got to cuddle with Pat at night, so as long as JP didn’t want to follow suit, Wade could take this one day at a time.

JP complained about their supplies of food being boring the day before they crossed into the Seventh Realm. Dried fruit and salted meat wasn’t all that appetizing, true, but they didn’t have permission to hunt or harvest in any of the other realms, and the Seventh Realm was so far to the edge of the kingdom that there weren’t very many markets available to purchase fresh food.

So when they finally crossed into the Seventh Realm (ahead of schedule, even), JP straight up cried from relief. “We don’t have to have to eat more of that awful jerky!”

Pat snorted. “It’s really not that bad.”

“YES IT IS.” JP seemed very distressed at that. “I CAN’T TEAR IT BEFORE I BITE IT.”

Wade chose to ignore the problems with that statement. “We’ll see what we can find tonight.”

Pat managed to catch a rabbit that night, and hearing JP sing about eating a little friend was simultaneously amusing and disturbing. 

As similar as the forests between the Sixth and Seventh Realms were, night was not at all the same. In the Sixth Realm, everything had been nice and, well, nature-y. Birds and insect sounds had ruled, with the occasional deer or even a wolf wandering close to camp.

Usually, the four of them took turns keeping watch during the night (splitting the night into three watches so the fourth person would be fully rested in case of an emergency), but the animals only ever seemed to investigate the camp during Wade’s watch, no matter which of the four it was. It was always a quiet event, as the creature tentatively observed the humans and Wade stared at them in awe. He’d never had this happen in the First Realm. Likely, there had been too many humans about for the animals to risk it. But Wade was in nature now, and he could observe it, and it could observe him right back.

But their first night in the Seventh Realm, Wade was most definitely creeped out. Firstly, it was a new golden moon, and that made the forest unbelievably dark. Wade could see almost nothing outside of the camp, and if he even so much as glanced at the fire, his eyes screamed in pain at the extreme relative brightness.

No insects chirped or animals seemed to stir. No wolves or deer wandered near the camp. 

Wade glanced at his sleeping companions, trying to avoid the stabby light of the (albeit very low) fire. None of them seemed bothered by the silence, so hopefully Wade was just overly tense by his looming responsibilities.

Returning his attention to the forest around the camp, Wade sighed.

He had yet to encounter any people who lived in the Seventh Realm. It was far enough from Primus that a simple visit for a major holiday or big event was beyond most people’s means. Honestly, Wade was going to have to be very selective about when he visited, even with his promise. The thought of just leaving the Seventh Realm without someone to maintain the protection spells for two whole months was really not appealing.

In fact, it was downright terrifying.

He’d thought about it when first leaving Primus, but now that he was actually IN the Seventh Realm, he couldn’t help but think of it again.

If the protection spells were maintained correctly, then the people of the Realm tended to be more at peace, more likely to work out problems civilly, Of course, it didn’t just make everyone pretend there weren’t problems. Any time you had large groups of people together (or even just...any number of people), there were going to be problems. It was just part of life. But the spells helped make more people more levelheaded about the whole situation and make everything more likely to work out.

Not only that, but monsters in the Realm would avoid human settlements more. They always existed of course, and each Realm tended to have a couple kinds that never appeared in other Realms (Wade had no idea what they were for the Seventh Realm), but life tended to go more calmly if humans and monsters avoided each other.

Shadows flicked at the edge of Wade’s vision, and he was very suddenly aware of how chilly it was. Slowly, he sat up, becoming more alert.

Then he looked around.

Nothing.

At least, nothing that was showing itself. Several monsters hid well in darkness, and Wade wasn’t ready to rule out the possibility of the moving shadows being one.

Wade stared at and between the trees, even getting up and walking around the edge of the camp, inspecting everything.

Still nothing.

Still uneasy, Wade settled back into a sitting position, eyes flicking from one spot of shadows to even darker shadows farther away.

After an hour or so, when Wade started to feel he’d just been imagining things, he turned to the fire and sighed. He’d been so preoccupied with watching for danger that he hadn’t kept the fire going. Now, it was a smoldering pile of half-glowing glow dots.

Wade glanced up to evaluate the moon's location in the sky. Well, the silver moon, since it was the one easiest to use to tell time. He had just an hour left before his watch was over. Considering JP had the final watch, Wade was either going to have to get this fire going again or be prepared to frequently wake at JP's whimpers and attempts at fake bravado.

Wade shook his head and walked over to their pile of firewood. This was a tricky process, as he wasn't as familiar with the inside of the camp as he was the exterior edge. He would take a step, and tentatively poke around and shuffle his foot in the air until he was sure he was stepping somewhere safe and devoid of holes or random gear (judging by the amount of said random gear around Wade's legal ward, JP needed another lesson in how to take care of gear properly) or people.

Then Wade reached to pick up some wood, only to feel a spider's web brush his fingertips.

Wade pulled back, making his "ew" face. Had that been there when JP gathered it? Was it still occupied? Or was it abandoned?

Wade didn't want to get a spider bite in the middle of strange forests. Not when he couldn't identify the spider. Or know how quickly the bite would mess someone up.

Especially if the web belonged to a monster variety of spider. 

Monsters, it should be explained, are any and all non-human creatures with magic. The term has nothing to do with evil desires, and was likely coined by some explorer trying to make their travels sound more impressive than they really were.

But monster varieties of regular animals tended to deviate widely from the average. Wade had heard stories of a spider and a pig making friends and working together to win a prize at a local fair. He'd also heard stories of monster animals that were downright deadly to touch.

No thank you. Wade had a hard enough time healing his own non-magicked injuries; a monster spider bite would be downright terrifying to handle, especially since Wade was the only one awake TO handle it.

So when Wade got to wake JP and get the teen to make a small light float over the woodpile, then start the fire again, he was happy there were no spiders visible.

And even happier that he got to sleep.

\-----

Septimal was certainly smaller than Wade expected, especially for a capital of a Realm.

Still larger than the few towns they'd passed once they left the forest, though.

Septimal was probably nine or ten miles wide and fifteen or sixteen long. The farms, of course, spread out farther than that. The group had been traveling past (and sometimes through) farmlands for the past day and a half. Only now did Septimal even appear.

Pat made a  _ hmm _ -ing sound. "Well, it's defensible." 

Wade took a good look at the city. "Looks like it, yeah."

The back of the city (the south side) was pressed up against the sheer cliffs of the Indigo Mountains, and the border with the Land of the Squirrels ran along the crest of the mountain range. The far west side of the city opened up to the Indigo Ocean, at least according to Wade's map. The east side was closest to Wade, and the north just existed.

The whole city had the standard walls surrounding it, though a stretch seemed to be under construction. Were they expanding the city? Or fortifying it?

In the approximate middle of the city, against the mountains, was the fortress Wade would get to call home. It wasn't very pretty from a distance, and it was likely to be even less pretty up close. It was also likely to have drafts in winter.

"What's the sparkly stuff over there?" JP pointed to the Indigo Ocean.

"That's the ocean on your map." Marie pointed to a large swath on JP's now-crinkled-and-at-one-point-dropped-in-a-mud-puddle map.

JP gasped, eyes going wide. "I didn't know Wade gets an ocean."

Wade slouched in his saddle. "The ocean isn't ruled by any kingdom. I just get to make sure the ports and merchants work out like they're supposed to."

JP grinned. "Can I get on a boat?"

"Ship." Pat corrected. 

"What?"

"Ships go on the ocean. Boats don't."

JP paused. "Whatever. Can I go on one?"

Wade sighed, looking over Septimal. "We'll see what happens after we get settled."

With that thought in mind, Wade urged his horse forward.

And promptly started grumbling, as it had started to munch on some grass by the side of the road and was now refusing to move.

"Stupid horse."

Pat laughed, and his big battle horse flicked an ear. "Well, we're ready to go whenever it is."

It took some urging, but finally Wade’s horse began once again to move. 

Once Wade and his companions got to the gates of Septimal, Wade started frowning. There were guards keeping an eye on people, fortunately, but they didn’t seem to really even care that people existed. The guards didn’t even spare Wade’s group a second glance, and some of the guards didn’t even give the group a first glance.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Pat started muttering under his breath. Wade didn’t catch most of it, but he did hear “incompetent rust buckets”.

Wade shook his head. Getting the city guard in at least a decent shape was going to be a high priority. Since Pat knew more about that than Wade did, Pat was probably going to end up in charge of that.

As they rode through the city, Wade’s expectations sank lower and lower and his apprehension rose higher and higher. Sailors were all over, which wasn’t a problem, but they were being raucous and clearly interfering with the day-to-day life of the citizens of Septimal.

The market was a mess. It was deafeningly loud, but that was to be expected with any market. But the noise wasn’t from haggling and excitement and socializing. It was from shouting and screaming and crying and shopkeeps trying to stop thieves and guards standing just a foot away and ignoring everything.

Wade frowned.

He had a lot to take care of. 


	3. Headed Straight for the Cas-- Wait, it’s a Fortress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wade can't even get inside his own fortress. Now what is he supposed to do?

JP was looking around much more eagerly than Wade was. This was likely because JP wasn’t going to have to fix everything.

Wade glanced at the teen. One of the things Wade was going to have to ensure happened was getting JP a tutor. JP certainly wasn’t stupid, but not having a formal education made life a lot harder.

Of course, this was assuming Wade didn’t die of frustration before they even got settled in the fortress.

At the moment, they were approaching it, and there was one glaring problem before they even got inside the inner gates of the fortress.

The door -- the big one behind the lowered drawbridge and portcullis, whatever it was called -- was closed. And no matter where Wade looked, he couldn’t see someone to change that.

Wade slid off his horse (the stupid thing was nibbling at grass at the side of the road again anyways) and walked towards the giant moat surrounding the fortress, trying to spot someone to raise the spikey thing and open the doors behind it.

The moat was full of all sorts of gross things -- trash, rotten logs, dead plants. Between the patches of trash, something dark swirled and wriggled and slid by in the water below. The water itself was likely filthy, but it was impossible to tell if that was because the trash was obscuring the view or because there was dark stone bordering everything and making sure the water looked dark.

Falling in that wouldn’t be fun.

Wade gave another look to the top of the wall, trying once again to spot someone to let them in.

Nothing.

Wade walked back to the group. “Pat, do you see anyone up there?” Maybe Wade had just missed someone.

Pat stared at the top of the wall, his beanie flopping a little. 

“Nobody’s walked along the wall for a while.” He glanced at Wade. “Another thing for you to fix.’

Wade started muttering uncomplimentary things. First a month’s travel, which, while it could have been a lot worse, could have been a lot better. Then the conditions of the city. Then this. And after all this, Wade had no idea how to even run a city, much less a Realm -- that was a lie, he had lots of ideas, just no idea how to implement them.

“We could climb the wall.” JP said hopefully. “Talk to the lord of the Realm.”

Wade just looked at JP.

“What?” JP asked, blinking in confusion. “What’s wrong with the plan? I mean, falling would be awful, but it’s better than sitting here.”

“JP.” Wade said. “JP.”

“Am I missing something?”

Wade nodded.

JP frowned and started braiding his horse’s hair. After a minute, he sat up. “Oh! That’s the problem. They’ll think I’m an intruder and lock me up.”

Wade sighed and put his face in his hand. “JP.”

“What?!”

“Why did we come here?”

“Because you’re the new lord of the Realm. What does that have to do with anything?”

JP froze.

“Ooohhh.” JP looked down and started picking at the braid he’d just made. “I get it now. We can’t get the lord to let us in because that’s Wade, and he’s here. With us.”

Marie nodded.

JP looked up. “So what are we gonna do? Throw rocks at them?”

“I love the idea, JP.” Pat grinned. “Let’s see if we can hit that bell in the top tower.” He pointed to the door tower far above them.

“Don’t hit people.” Wade said. “I don’t want to have to heal someone the very second I get inside.”

“Wait, so how are we supposed to get in? I’m an awful throw, and Wade just said he didn’t want to heal anyone.” JP stared at the tall walls. “I don’t think we could shout our way in.”

“Considering we’re not a certain prince of Bossatron, no. We do not have that ability.” Pat said dryly.

“I wonder if they’re understaffed or if they’re bored.” Marie said. It was the first time she’d spoken to anyone but Pat all day.

“Why does it make a difference?” JP asked.

“If they’re understaffed, they’ll come around eventually. It might just take a while. But if they’re bored, they might not even care that we’re here.”

Pat slid off his horse, crouched, and bounced a rock in his hand. “Well, if we get their attention, they’ll have to come either way.” He stood. “I’m going with the throw-rocks-at-the-bell plan I suggested earlier.”

Wade frowned. “Patrick -- “

But Pat had already thrown the rock. Presumably, he was aiming for the faint glint of copper far above, but it was hard to tell from Wade’s angle of view.

The rock soared up, closer and closer to the guard tower, before disappearing.

Silence.

“That’s one quiet bell.” JP squinted upwards. “Or is the rock mute?”

“No, JP, the rock isn’t mute.” Wade said. “Pat just missed the bell.”

Pat grumbled something too softly for Wade to hear.

“How will we tell when he hits the bell? Won’t it be really quiet?”

Pat glared at the offensive bell. “No, it’s an alarm bell of some kind -- it’s standard for fortresses. It’s gonna be loud as --”

Wade poked him.

“Hey!” Pat looked at Wade accusingly.

“Not around JP.”

“I’m sure he’s heard the term before.” Pat rubbed his shoulder, even though a gentle poke, through all that armor, couldn’t have hurt him at all.

“Wade’s my guardian.” JP reminded Pat. “He gets to decide what you -- anyone, really -- can say around me.”

Pat just sighed, then frowned. “Rock!” He shouted. “This is all your fault!”

JP giggled.

A head poked over the edge of the tower. “Oy! Who’re you and why’d you throw a rock in front o’ me?”

Pat glanced at Wade.

Right. Wade needed to make this introduction.

“Wade Barnes and company.” Wade shouted up. “I’m here --”

“Oh! You’re the lad to replace ol’ Havendal, aren’t’cha?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll let you in. Just hang on a bit.” The head disappeared.

Silence for a minute, Then Pat turned to Marie and Wade, grinning. 

“I told you it would work.”

With that, Wade rode forward. Slowly, as to make sure all the gates and doors and such were opened before he actually got there.

And they did, revealing the courtyard.

The inside of the fortress walls was in such contrast with the rest of the world that Wade almost stopped his horse mid-way across the moat.

The grounds weren’t exactly in pristine condition, but they were decently kept. They were, at the least, green. Perhaps a little overgrown, but it was clear someone had been trying to maintain them.

The fortress itself was dirty, but it was difficult to keep a stone building clean, so Wade hadn’t been expecting a lot on that end. Nowhere did the walls seem to be in bad repair. Things looked sturdy. Nothing alarming stood out.

It wasn’t exactly a welcoming place, though. No banners or tapestries hung from the windows, and none of the flagpoles flew anything.

Wade blinked. They were waiting to find out what his personal symbol was, so they could put it up appropriately.

“Whaddya think?” The guard’s voice cut through Wade’s thoughts. Majorly so, because the guard was still shouting and something about the tone just did not lend to being ignored. “A bit shorthanded here, but someone should be in the stables, around to the left.”

JP gave the guard a thumbs up and started moving all by himself.

Wade laughed, nodding thanks to the man who had let them in, and followed JP.

The only one in the stables was a young boy, probably about nine, who volunteered to take care of their horses, but something told Wade a child wouldn’t be able to handle four horses before becoming exhausted, and that wasn’t something he was willing to let happen.

Fortunately, Pat was already shaking his head. “No, nobody touches my horse but me. He bites.”

The little boy shied away from the gelding.

“I’ve got to take care of Pineapple myself.” JP slid out of the saddle.

When the little boy turned to Marie, she shook her head. “I’ve got to get things from her saddlebags, and I’m the only one who knows how.”

The little boy stood there, anguish in his eyes. Never once did he look at Wade, seeming to recognize who he was.

Wade sighed, dismounting. “Here. I’m just about fed up with this horse today. Just make sure to brush it down thoroughly, or it’ll try to throw me later.”

The little boy froze, then looked at Wade’s shoes. “Really, your highness?”

Wade sighed again. “You can look at me, you know.” And he frowned. “And don’t call me that. Wade is fine.”

“I can’t call you that!” The boy’s gaze shot to Wade’s face, panicked.

Wade sighed for the third time. “Then Lord Barnes will work fine.”

The little boy nodded. “Okay, Lord Barnes. I’ll take real good care of your horse. Does it like apples?”

Wade shrugged. “No idea, but you can find out.” He looked at his companions. “I’ll find my own way in. Meet back up with you later.” 

Then he set off on his adventure of trying to navigate the fortress.


	4. Letter from a Lord

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wade starts getting settled in his new home, and finds that the old lord left a letter for him (along with a fair amount of concerning unfinished business).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to keep these chapters between 1000 and 2000 words long, at least for now. 
> 
> Also, I'm writing this for Camp NaNoWriMo, so I'll be uploading chapters as I finish them. So far it seems I finish a chapter every other day, but I won't promise I'll upload that often (because life). But I will be able to manage twice a week through at least the end of the month.

Wade paced the small room he’d chosen as his office, occasionally glancing at the stack of papers he’d moved from the old office onto his desk here. The stack was probably a good foot high.

All of it was unfinished business from the old lord.

Wade hadn’t seen Havendal in almost a month and a half, ever since he’d come to Primus to relinquish lordship of the Seventh Realm.

Which meant Havendal hadn’t been here to take care of things for at least two and a half months. Possibly longer, depending on if he’d been searching for someone to go through the courtship ceremonies with.

Wade sighed. Alright. Time to buckle down and sort through everything.

Two piles. That was all Wade needed for now. ‘Can do without being official’ and ‘Must have official symbol of officialness’.

Wade shook his head as he sorted. Really, he needed staff. People to help out. Right now, Pat was trying to figure out what was going on with the fortress and city guards and Marie had elected herself as stewardess.

Which was fine. Wade just needed to figure out how much to pay her.

JP was making friends with others his age. Presumably children of existing staff and nearby families. Until JP got a tutor and a guard, though, he wasn’t allowed to leave the fortress unattended.

He seemed okay with that so far.

Wade grabbed a bunch of papers and went to his window (really more of a hole in the wall), mostly for the view and partially because the chair was painful after so long in a saddle.

Wade wasn’t sure how long he stood there, sorting and starting to solve problems, before he sat on the stone floor. And after that, he wasn’t sure how long he was there until someone knocked.

Wade looked up to see Pat leaning in the doorway.

“Fortress guard is majorly low.” Pat said. “Apparently some things went on and scared a whole bunch of them off. I don’t know what yet, people won’t tell me, but I’ll let you know when I figure it out.”

Wade nodded, standing. “Alright. Thank you.”

Pat sighed. "Yeah buddy. It's evening though, if you haven't noticed, so you should put that away and eat. You've got a big day tomorrow."

Wade sighed, moving towards the desk. Tomorrow night was when the spell solidifying Wade's position as Lord of the Seventh Realm. Wade wasn't quite sure who was performing the spell, though, since he hadn't seen any places of worship yet.

Not that people were required to attend or even be a part of any of the local religions. It just seemed like those who did participate in it would like to have a place available for them to meet, so you should put that away and eat. You’ve got a big day tomorrow.”

Wade sighed, moving towards the desk. Tomorrow night was when the spell solidifying Wade’s position as Lord of the Seventh Realm would be performed. Wade wasn’t quite sure who was performing the spell, though, since he hadn’t seen any places of worship yet.

Not that people were required to attend or even be a part of any of the local religions. It just seemed like those who did attend would like to have a place available to meet.

Wade shook his head. Why was he even thinking about that now? Right. He was required to have a priest or priestess invoke the spell.

Well, if he was planned to become all official tomorrow, there was at least one in the area.

“Don’t worry about it.” Pat clapped Wade on the shoulder reassuringly. “Don’t mess up your part, and you’ll be fine.”

“Thanks.” Wade said dryly. “No pressure.”

“Exactly.”

\-----

When Wade found his bedroom for the first time that night, he first blinked at the size of the bed and the heavy gray curtains surrounding it (probably to provide extra warmth during winter by trapping heat), then noticed the letter sitting on the pillow.

Quickly changing out of his dirty travel clothes, Wade then picked up the letter. After a moment’s hesitation, he broke the seal and unfolded the paper.

 _To my replacement,_ the letter began, _I have something to admit. I didn’t really look for a partner, much less a spouse. I have never been interested in anyone, and while I could have toughed it out, the horror of creating a new heir would have prevented any children from taking over._

 _I suppose I could have done as Lords Dan and Phil,_ (who ruled the Third Realm) _and searched for a common-born heir, but it seems unlikely that anyone I could test could have great magic. I know it’s possible. Half the common population has magic of some kind or another. But out of those, how many have great magic? One of every four and a half thousand? That means there’s only one in Septimal, and they may already have met their fate. And the odds are even lower in the countryside._

Wade sighed. That just served as a reminder that he’d likely end up looking for a wife from the already-existing-and-already-tested pool of single noblewomen. Considering how many were already married or promised, Wade had an uncomfortably high chance of ending up with someone a decade younger than he was.

...he didn’t want to marry a seventeen-year-old.

_Anyway, I’m sure you didn’t come here to read excuses. From a retiring noble to his replacement, this is what you need to know._

_If you’ve never performed the protection spell before (even if you’ve seen it performed), then on top of the shelf across the room, in a small locked box, is a set of instructions. The box is enchanted to ensure nobody without great magic can even move it, much less open it. Though it should just open up at your touch._

_Something is going on in the forests. The people of Septimal have become terrified of entering them, and I have no idea why. Nobody will tell me. Not even my own guards._

_I suspect the fear is in connection to the missing person reports I’ve received. About a hundred and fifty people have gone missing from Septimal alone in the past year. Towns farther away seem to have a single person disappear each two to four months, too._

_I don’t know what’s causing this. Some were probably forcibly enlisted onto a ship, but not so many and never children._

_And yet, they have vanished._

Wade frowned. 150 men, women, and children. That was higher than Primus' rate of missing persons. People would always disappear, but this...this was a lot. Especially since this was only the count of reported missing people. From experience, Wade knew only about a fourth of families even thought to report it.

So Wade was looking at 600 missing people.

That was a lot.

_I have sent out search parties, but all have come back empty handed._

_The dock authorities have reported more and more problems with sailors recently. I’ve put regulations in place, but I’ve no idea if they’ll work as they’re supposed to._

_I wish you luck in governing and protecting the Seventh Realm._

_Havendal_

Wade sighed and put the letter on the bedside table. More to do, then.

But first, sleep.

\----

Wade was woken by light flooding his face. Groggily, he sat up, only to find an unfamiliar youth rushing around the room.

“Good morning, my liege.” The youth pulled some clothes from the wardrobe. “These are your clothes for the day -- they’re the base for the ceremonial clothes, so don’t mess them up.”

Wade blinked. “I’m sorry, I don’t know who you are.”

“Reginald Theodanes, lord.” The youth draped the clothes over the back of a chair. “Stewardess Marie assigned me to be your personal servant. Will you need help getting dressed?”

Wade looked at the clothes. While they were made of fancy cloth (satin, it looked like) and covered in highly detailed embroidery that almost certainly had some spell woven in the thread, there were only a few items to wear.

“I think I can handle it.”

Reginald bowed. “Breakfast is here.” He gestured to the bedside table, where a tray with food sat next to the letter from the night before. “Make sure to eat carefully so you don’t accidentally spill, since they’re unlikely to come out.”

Wade blinked. Why had Marie given him a personal servant? Wade hadn’t had one since he and his siblings shared a nanny when Wade was seven or eight, and that man had mostly just kept an eye on them.

“Hurry, my lord.” Reginald said. “You’ve much to do to prepare for the ceremony tonight.”

Wade looked at the clothes again. They looked too fancy to be comfortable.

“I’ve drawn a bath for you as well, as per the instructions of the priestess.” Reginald bounced on his toes.

Wade sighed. Alright. “Do you know where JP is?” Wade rolled out of bed, silently groaning at new sore muscles.

Reginald nodded. “Yes, my lord. Captain Patrick took your ward to go over their roles for tonight. The Captain will arrive to escort you when the time is right. If you’re worried about safety, there’s always a guard stationed outside your door.”

Wade nodded absently, grabbing his food. Biscuits, eggs, and bacon. Better than he’d expected for being low on staff.

“The priestess said you would know what to do after the ceremony.”

He did?

The protection spell? Was that it?

Then Wade needed to memorize the instructions before leaving the room for the ceremony.

Wade paused. Since when was Pat a captain? He’d been offered the job before, but had always turned it down in favor of guarding Wade.

“I’ll wait outside the door should you need assistance.” Reginald moved out of the room.

Wade finished eating, then grabbed the clothes and went to the bathroom. He didn’t take long, largely on account of the water being absolutely scalding.

_Note to self: tell Reginald that just warm water is fine._

Just as quickly as he’d eaten and bathed, Wade dressed in the clothes, then stood there for a minute, staring at his distorted reflection in the very small mirror on the cabinet. This wasn’t too flattering. Especially since he hadn’t shaved in a month, and (while he thought he looked okay with a beard) his mother would disapprove.

Well, she wasn’t here, and he didn’t want to deal with the hassle of shaving all the way.

That meant all the get-ready-for-the-day things were done, so Wade went to the shelf left in the letter. There, easily within sight and reach, was a small wooden box. Being as it was the only thing on the shelf, that meant this box was what Havendal had meant.

Wade picked it up, his fingers trailing over the carving on the front. He couldn’t tell what it was, but it was certainly pretty. Strange. Where it had been on the shelf, someone of a more average height would have struggled to reach it, but not Wade.

The lid flipped open with a flick of a thumb. Inside was a folded, yellowed piece of paper, ink faded to a grayish brown. Havendal had clearly used his notes a lot.

Wade unfolded the paper. Right on the top read “Remember: can use while performing the protection spell”.

Wade sighed in relief. Good. He didn’t have to memorize it right now.

Now. All he had to do was get a spell put on him so he could perform the protection spell for the Realm. Where if he messed up, lots and lots of things would go wrong in the Realm and maybe even in the whole kingdom, if he messed up badly enough.

No big deal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea of Wade's mother's IRL opinion of his beard, but it was weird trying to imagine him without one, so I made sure to mention it.
> 
> I'm aware not a lot of action has happened yet, but I want to get Wade firmly established in the Seventh Realm before I start throwing in changes. Shouldn't be much more, though (three chapters in my planning, but we'll see how it goes).


	5. A New Lord

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wade officially becomes the Lord of the Seventh Realm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay sparkles!

While Wade couldn’t see the crowd of people waiting in the Great Hall, he could hear it. Voices were overlapping, echoing, only slightly muffled by the tapestries hanging on the walls of the Great Hall, and bouncing to the small side room where Wade was waiting for his cue.

Marie handed Wade a cup of tea. “You don’t have long, but this should help with nerves.”

Wade wanted to protest that he wasn’t nervous, that he’d been raised around crowds, but his hands were noticeably shaking as he took the cup.

Wade took a sip and instantly felt calmer. He didn’t know what magic Marie had (because he’d never asked and Pat had never offered), or if this was a result of her just being able to make really good tea (or if it was because of both), but she was amazing for even thinking of this.

Although it was probably part of her job, as stewardess.

She was right about Wade not having a lot of time, too. The crowd had gone quiet, which meant JP was escorting the priestess into the Great Hall. Once she was in the right spot, Pat would introduce Wade in the fanciest way possible -- which, knowing Pat, was probably going to be very simple -- and Wade would have to be ready to emerge dramatically when that happened.

“Don’t sit on your robe like that, milord.” Reginald said critically. “You’ll crinkle it.”

Wade simply squirmed more deeply into the cushioning the thick, heavy robe provided.

Reginald frowned.

“I found a man qualified to both tutor and guard JP, by the way.” Marie murmured. “His information is on your desk.”

Wade just nodded, listening more for his cue than he was to whatever Marie was saying.

Technically, as stewardess, Marie had the power to hire anyone she wished for any position, regardless of Wade’s approval or lack thereof. But Wade had made it clear he wanted to be involved in JP’s education, so Marie was trying to involve him in the hiring process.

“Welcome, fellow citizens of the Seventh Realm.” Pat’s voice rose over the crowd, and Wade’s heart simultaneously sunk a little and warmed. Pat had loved the First Realm so much, and had given up citizenship there for Wade. He had made that sacrifice for Wade.

“Our new lord gave up being a prince, of all things, to make sure we stay safe.”

Murmurs ran through the crowd.

Wade stood and shuffled towards the doorway, gently placing the teacup on the now-vacant chair.

“He has great healing magic, and don’t worry about him completing the courtship ceremonies. He’s got over a decade to find someone for that.”

Wade sighed quietly as he shuffled a little bit closer. The best thing about being new in the farthest Realm from the capitol meant people didn’t know that Wade had already failed the ceremonies once. He could get a fresh start.

“Our new lord, Wade Barnes!”

Now Wade strode to where Pat was waiting, holding the end result of whatever dramatic gesture he’d chosen to use, with the voice of Wade’s childhood tutor saying “Remember to use even movements, make them smooth actions, now walk all the way around the castle like that” echoing in Wade’s memory.

Etiquette training was actually paying off now.

Not that Wade was ever going to admit it to his old tutor.

There were certainly a lot of people here. Faces from all walks of life were looking towards Wade, and most of the people were looking straight at him. There was, however, a baby on the front row that was looking at something on the ground and reaching for it.

Pat stepped backwards into the shadows, and the priestess came to Wade’s side. Wade turned to look at her. She was elderly, but not ancient, with silvery hair wound in braids around her head.

She gave him a kind smile and gestured for him to kneel, which he did.

Well, Wade knew his part of the ceremony, but it was good to know she was there in case he forgot something. Which would be impressive, since he mostly had to just stay kneeling until he felt the spell “settle” on him. Which was also supposed to turn all the new blank banners and pennants around the fortress into something with his lordly symbol.

He wasn’t sure he wanted magic to decide what that was going to be, but it wasn’t like he had any ideas.

The priestess waited until the crowd fell silent, which took a little bit. There were always those people who waited until the last second to fall quiet, and then there were those who decided that since nobody else was being quiet they could keep talking still.

“Close your eyes.” The priestess’ voice was just a whisper, and Wade was surprised he could even hear it. “Listen to the room, and feel the magic of the land waiting for you.”

...nobody had told Wade about this. Or had he just forgotten?

Wade closed his eyes, and sighed slightly. He must have forgotten.

Suddenly, he became aware of how he was holding himself. His left leg, the one on the side without an audience, was flat on the ground from the knee down. His left arm was almost straight, the palm of his hand flat against the ground to help support himself. Then his right leg was bent as if he was sitting, so only the foot touched the ground, and his right arm was resting on top of that.

Something touched him slightly, guiding his head into a bowed position. 

The stone under his knee and hand should have been cold to the touch -- cool, at the least -- but it seemed much warmer than that, as if the fortress was beginning to wake up.

That was ridiculous. No spell existed to make buildings aware, or able to sleep or wake up.

“The time has once again come for the magic of the Seventh Realm to be bound to a mortal human lord.” The priestess’ voice was much more impressive this time, penetrating every inch of Wade’s being. “I call on it now and present it with Wade Barnes, who offers himself to serve this Realm, to guide the Realm in times of peace and trouble, to build the Realm and expand its potential, to protect the Realm and its inhabitants during wars, to care for those of the Realm who lack the ability to care for themselves, to do whatsoever is best for the Seventh Realm, and to be aided in these monumentous tasks by the land itself.”

The stone under Wade’s hand started to get uncomfortably warm, but something told him he needed to keep his hand there.

Probably the physical presence holding it there.

“Wade Barnes, I now bind you to the magic of the Seventh Realm.”

Instantly, warm drifted down onto Wade, like tiny little happy snowflakes.

A gasp rang out through the crowd, one even coming out from the priestess.

Wade cautiously opened his eyes, then slowly stood. What ... what was happening?

Golden-red sparks were flying all around the room, filling the air and casting rose-colored light on everything and everyone. The banners and pennants hanging around the room, which had been gray the last time Wade had looked at them, were cascading into a deep red. Black shapes were starting to swirl and form, before settling into a shape that looked almost like a lightning bolt surrounded by a circle.

Another widespread gasp.

“Give me your hand, milord.” The priestess held out her hands. “Your right one.”

Wade blinked. This was most definitely not in the normal procedure. But it couldn’t hurt anything, so he complied.

The priestess turned his hand so his palm was facing upwards, then gasped. The same golden-red sparks were swirling underneath Wade’s skin.

Wade just about screamed.

“Oh, this is wonderful!” The priestess laughed. “Never have I seen the magic take so well to anyone! It’s been so many generations since such a thing has happened!”

Wade blinked. “This is a good thing?!”

“Yes, milord. Yes it is.” The priestess laughed once again. “It’s excellent. So excellent.” 

“What does it mean? You said something about the magic taking well?”

“It likes you. It’ll even protect you itself if you get in danger.”

Wade stared at the now-fading swirls of sparkles. “That’s not normal?”

“No, no it’s not. But it gave you the utmost symbol of favor.” The priestess gestured to the walls -- the pennants and banners. “The triple seven.”

And that’s when the cheering started.

When Wade finally managed to get away from the crowd of people that wanted to talk to him (he’d get there, but midnight was not the proper time for business), he was instantly joined by Pat, Marie, and JP.

“Now that you’re officially the lord, we need to get JP tested for great magic.” Marie said. “If he has it, then you already have an heir.”

“Wait, what?” JP yawned slightly. “Why do I need to be tested?”

“Because Wade’s your guardian, and it’s the law.” Marie said simply. 

“But I’m common born.”

This was true. JP’s father had been a member of the royal guard, and his mother one of the palace seamstresses. His mother had died of an illness, along with JP’s siblings, and JP’s father had defended Wade’s mother from an assassin. The poison was what killed him, but not before Wade had promised to take care of JP until he was of age -- that was two years ago, and JP wouldn’t be 21 for another three years.

“You still have to be tested.” 

“I’m not gonna have great magic.” JP said. “I mean, I know I have normal magic.” He cupped his hands and blew into them, then opened them and let a pale light float upwards. “But odds of a couple thousand to one? That’s just not gonna happen.”

Wade looked at the weirlight, then, on impulse, reached out as it floated past and touched it.

It instantly changed from cream to red.

JP yelped. “How’d you do that, Wade?”

Pat just gave Wade a hard look. “I think he’s already learning how to use the magic of the Realm.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Place your bets now: will JP have great magic?
> 
> (You don't have to, but you can.)


	6. Sneaky Sneakers Sneaking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> JP goes to get tested for great magic; Wade interviews Bob for the position of tutor/guard for JP; and Wade and Pat sneak into the city in disguise to try and gather information.

“Who’s gonna be testing me?”

Wade resisted the temptation to groan. “One of the priests or priestesses.”

Marie nodded, pushing JP out the door. She was the one taking him, so Wade could interview the man applying for the tutor/guard job -- Bob Muyskens -- and then go with Pat into the city to make sure he knew what needed to be fixed so he could emphasize it during the protection spell.

Which HAD to be done that night.

“Is it gonna be Priestess Wilkins?” JP’s continued to ask as Marie herded him. “She was fun.”

Wade just gave Pat a long-suffering look. 

Pat just shrugged and returned to his place next to the door, looking all intimidating. As usual. Because it was his job.

It wasn’t too long before a tall, larger man showed up. Amazingly, he was just as tall as Wade. That didn’t happen too much.

“Hello.” Wade said simply.

The man hesitated, then bowed. “Milord.”

Wade just gestured for him to take a seat on the other side of Wade’s desk.

“Bob Muyskens?” Wade asked.

“Yes, milord.”

Wade just leaned back in his chair. "Convince me why I should hire you to teach and guard my ward."

Bob adjusted his glasses. "I'm smart and scary."

Wade just gestured for him to continue, noticing Pat's amused, yet unconvinced, expression.

Bob and Wade ended up speaking about the topic for quite some time, during which Wade judged Bob's ability to guard a teenager based off Pat's expressions.Eventually, Pat gave a satisfied nod, and Wade, already knowing Bob was educated enough for being a tutor, stood.

Bob hesitated, glanced behind at Pat, and slowly stood.

Pat just crossed his arms.

"Alright, Bob." Wade said. "You've got the job. In just a few minutes, Stewardess Marie will take you to JP and arrange for your uniform. Work out the particulars of your schedule with her, as I'm sure you want to spend time with your family."

Bob nodded. "Yes, milord."

"And call me Wade."

Bob hesitated. "If you insist, mi- Wade."

"I insist."

And with that, Pat quietly herded Bob out of the room. Wade glanced at his disguise under his desk -- he and Pat would be going into the city undercover, because if nobody was talking to those employed by Wade, then they would be even more reluctant to talk to Wade.

He was hoping that would change if he and Pat could be sneaky.

A soft laugh from outside the doorframe, and Wade glanced up to see Bob grinning and Pat laughing. Good for them. They were going to end up spending a lot of time near each other, with how much time Wade and JP spent together, so them getting to be friends would be very helpful.

Wade dropped into his chair once again, rifling through papers. Slowly, he was getting through the stack. He’d probably have been faster at it had he not insisted on interviewing Bob, but what was done was done.

Wade made a face. He was now holding a small stack of papers of things ready to be handed off to Marie to be finalized and taken care of. It wasn’t going to be much fun for her, and she probably wasn’t going to thank him.

Paying her -- or any of the staff -- wasn’t going to be much fun, either, because the treasury was a mess. Wade wasn’t sure how much coin was actually there, and he wanted to not only be able to pay the staff, but have enough in reserve to at least start rebuilding the city if something bad should happen.

Someone dropped in the chair across from him, and Wade looked up to see Pat casually stretching.

“He’s a nice fella.” Pat grinned.

Wade glanced into the empty hall to see that Bob was gone. Marie must have come.

“Sounded like the two of you were getting along well.” Wade went back to putting things aside for Marie.

“So far, yeah. Got to know a little about him that you didn’t ask. Like family.”

“That’s because it didn’t really matter to the job.”

“And yet you want him to have a day off.”

“I was thinking evenings, when JP is around us anyways. We can enlist another guard for that, if you want.”

“I’m good at my job, but I can’t protect three people.” Pat assured. “We want someone helping.”

A pause.

“Hey, Wade, you should really not do that.”

Wade looked up. He’d been doing things he’d done from time to time back in Minion. “What?”

“You don’t know?”

Wade just looked at Pat, questioning what was happening.

“You keep sparkling.” Pat put his hand on his chin. “Yup, just like that. Random sparkles of that rose color from yesterday.”

Wade blinked, then frowned. “What?”

“I noticed it when you were interviewing Bob, but I didn’t know how to point it out without scaring the poor guy. Although I’m pretty sure he saw the sparkles. He was frozen stiff.”

Wade sighed, then put everything down. “I wonder how I’m going to hide  _ that _ .”

Pat nodded, standing and closing the door. Both of them had to get changed, or someone would instantly recognize them. “Well, we could rub dirt on you. Since the sparkles are under your skin, that should hide it. Probably something we should do anyway, to make you harder to recognize.”

Wade just crouched and pulled their disguises out from under the desk, throwing Pat his.

The two of them changed, being careful to make sure their precautions were in place. By no means was Pat ever going to go anywhere without some sort of armor, even if it was just leather under a workman’s tunic. (Pat had wanted chainmail, but it tended to clink.) Wade, too, was wearing leather armor under his tunic, but unlike Pat, who had to remove his chainmail and gauntlets (demi-gauntlets, if you wanted to get specific) to even put on the leather, Wade didn’t. It was part of his normal attire, always underneath his outer clothes.

It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing, and Wade had seen enough assassination attempts in his life to make him careful.

Wade glanced up at Pat, then sighed. “Take off the hat.”

“It’s a beanie, Wade.” Pat corrected, tugging on his travel boots. “And I’d really rather not.”

“You’re the only person in the entire Realm with one.” Wade said flatly. “I don’t want anyone recognizing you from last night.”

Pat frowned. “It’s enchanted.”

“I know. But people won’t talk to us if they recognize us.”

Pat grumbled so Wade couldn’t hear, probably something very uncomplimentary, but yanked off the beanie and threw it in his pile of clothes.

Wade gave himself a look-over, examining himself for any obvious problems.

“You wearing your boot knife?” Pat’s voice asked.

Wade wiggled his toes in his boots -- also his travel pair -- and felt the familiar weight of the blade strapped to his lower leg. “I haven’t stopped wearing it since you made me put it on.”

“Yeah, well, learn to fight better and I’ll be less worried about it.”

Wade snorted. “I can beat you with a sword.”

“That was a one-time event, mister. In any case, we can’t carry those. Most people can’t afford them.”

Wade just rolled his eyes before continuing to examine how he looked. Then he frowned. His right palm still had all the sparkles from the night before. “I think I’m gonna need gloves.”

Pat glanced up from equipping his daggers. “You can wear mine.” He slid one into a sheath behind his back, then dropped the tunic over it, rendering it invisible.

“My hands are bigger than yours.”

“Not by much.” Pat snorted. “People who swing weapons around for a living don’t have small hands.”

Wade shrugged, then picked up the leather gloves Pat wore under his gauntlets and slid them over his hands. They were a bit of a tight fit, but they were worn enough from the years of use that they fit in with Wade’s disguise -- more or less.

“Ready to go?” Pat asked.

Wade nodded. “Ready as I will be.”

As the two of them snuck out through the staff hallways (well, it wasn’t exactly sneaking, because Marie knew they were doing this), Pat took a brief pit stop at the first courtyard they came across and grabbed some dirt, then proceeded to cover his hands in it, up to his forearm. Then he brushed himself off, smearing dirt on his clothes and then even on his face.

“You look dirty.” Wade smirked.

“Yeah, but I’m a workman. I’m going to get dirty.” Pat ran his hands through his hair, making it look a bit nastier. “Your turn.”

Wade sighed, but complied, though not nearly to the same length as Pat did, simply saying he’d claim to have just come into Septimal looking for work.

Pat rolled his eyes.

The city was as busy as the first day Wade and Pat had come through, but was now much more difficult to navigate. People would clear a pathway for a horse. They wouldn’t for other people.

It was surprisingly easy to get information. Just not really the information Wade needed. People were talking about anything and everything from market prices to gossip about whose children were sneaking out with each other at night to their new lord.

Wade listened to that one a lot, pretending to talk with Pat so as not to draw too much attention to them. Wade’s mother had told him not to eavesdrop, but it was hard when the conversation was about yourself.

For a while, most of the conversations were about the ceremony the night before, and the sparkles that had given the fortress a makeover. After a few hours of listening, however, Wade started to hear some complaints (come on, he’d only been in the city for only three days). 

“I bet Lord Barnes isn’t even going to do anything about Molly.” That was an unfamiliar woman’s voice.

“He’s only been here for a few days. He might not even be in charge of finding missing people.” That was a man’s voice.

“Havendal was.”

“Havendal had a lot of free time on his hands, with not doing the courtship ceremonies and all.”

“Well, if he doesn’t start doing something about it soon, I might go up to the fortress on a hearing day and give him a piece of my mind. I want my sister back.”

“We all want her back.”

“You’re just saying that because she helps pay rent.” The woman’s voice was even sharper than before.

“She can enchant metal, dear.” The man’s voice was gentle, and Wade had to strain to listen to it. “Of course people are going to pay more for it, and of course it’s going to help pay the rent. Her class certainly helped, too.”

“I just want my sister back.”

A moment of silence, and Wade was afraid he’d lost the conversation to the crowd.

“Do you regret us marrying?” No, there was the man’s voice again, closer this time.

Wade glanced around, trying to identify the couple.

There. Standing next to the merchant’s table a few feet away. A woman with her head buried in her hands and a man touching her shoulder and looking concerned.

The woman looked up. “What? No. I just...” She shook her head, sending hair wisps flying. “I wish we hadn’t had the wedding in the forest. I wish we’d saved another month so we could rent out the church.”

The man pulled the woman in close. “We couldn’t have known Molly would disappear.”

“Something must have happened to her. She wouldn’t have just run off.” The woman buried her head in the man’s shoulder, and whatever she said next was lost to Wade.

“I’m sure it wasn’t a demon. Molly’s too smart for that.”

The woman’s shoulders just began shaking.

After a moment, the couple began moving away.

Wade tapped Pat on the shoulder, then nodded to the couple. “They talked about the forest, and one of the missing people. And a demon.”

Pat glanced at the couple. “I’ll find out who they are. Don’t. Move.”

Wade nodded, settling back against the building Pat had been leaning on just a minute before.

Maybe he should move to freak Pat out.

...

No, Wade didn’t want Pat to forbid Wade being alone ever again.

Pat slipped back to Wade a moment later. “Got their names.”

Wade just nodded, and the two of them continued listening. Nothing else was really said about the forest or missing people or demons by anyone else, so the two men made their way back to the fortress.

\-------

“Here.” Wade pulled out a missing persons report from his file of them. “The only Molly in the bunch.”

Pat looked at the paper, then at the description included. “Well, sounds like she looks a lot like the woman that was complaining.”

Wade nodded, quietly reviewing the details. This Molly was a blacksmith’s daughter, and could indeed enchant metal. Apparently she made and sold good tools and weapons and armor. And she had gone missing at her sister’s wedding, just inside the forest.

“Do we know anything about demons?” Wade finally asked.

Pat shook his head. “No.” He glanced out the window of Wade’s office. “But we should be getting a visit from JP and Marie in just a bit, letting us know if he gets to be your heir or not.”


	7. The Protection Spell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wade performs the protection spell for the first time and learns whether or not JP has great magic.

Wade glanced at the window, then frowned. It was sunset. "It's going to have to wait. I have to perform the protection spell before midnight, and I don't know how long it will take me."

Pat sighed. "Am I allowed to tag along? Or is that against the rules?"

Wade slid Havendal's notes out of his pocket. After a brief moment, he shook his head. "You're only allowed if you have great magic."

Pat settled into his chair. "Where will you be, so I can at least feel like I'm doing my job?"

"There's a little inner courtyard you can reach through my rooms." Wade said. He'd found it the night before. "I'll be in there."

Pat nodded. 

Wade just quietly stood and walked away.

After a few minutes, Wade slipped into his room, then through the dark gray door on the far side of the room. Havendal had, in his notes, mentioned that the spell could be performed anywhere, but that the quiet of the personal courtyard was good for concentration.

How Havendal had gotten a small courtyard with trees and small plants growing on the second floor of the fortress without compromising structural integrity, Wade didn't know, but it was working so far.

Wade quietly knelt in the open space in the middle of it before pulling out Havendal's notes. 

Wade stared at the noted for a minute. Some of them were in a handwriting other than Havendal’s, though, and Wade couldn’t figure out what they said.

What he did know was there was a part of the protection spell that changed according to what needed to be fixed the most, though he didn’t know how. Wade knew that the magic of the land was supposed to help him. That there were specific opening and closing phrases to activate the spell (and those were what he had yet to decipher). 

And that things could go really wrong for both Wade and the Realm if things were done incorrectly.

Also that there was a note from Havendal warning that the first few times Wade performed the protection spell, he might feel “out of sorts” afterwards, after he woke up.

Such fun.

The feeling of warm snowflakes overcame Wade once again, and there was a long moment where all that filled Wade's mind was a stuttering sigh.

Then a distinct phrase filled into Wade's mind.

_ 'This is how we begin.' _

Then another distinct phrase.

_ 'This is how we end.' _

We?

_ 'Come, we have a Realm to protect.' _

Wade hesitated, then took a deep breath and closed his eyes, then spoke the first phrase.

Suddenly, it was as if Wade was being dragged along. First, he could feel excitement and fear. After only a moment, he realized the emotions belonged to JP, Marie, and Bob. They must have been walking to Wade's office.

Then he felt worry mixed with confidence. Pat.

Then so many more feelings, all belonging to other people. Fear and joy and grief and pleasure.

Each added emotion made Wade feel like he himself was stretching.

_ 'This is only the fortress. Come. We have much more to include.' _

Wade stretched. He stretched in every direction, like bread dough rising and filling and overflowing a bowl. Except the bowl was the fortress.

More emotions. More fear. More loneliness. More tears, hate. Hate towards the nobility, towards Wade. Grief for all those lost to various fates. Deep fear of the forest, of monsters, of demons.

Some part of Wade was aware he wasn't breathing. Too many Other emotions were overwhelming his system.

_ 'Shh. Look here.' _

Warmth. Happiness. Laughter and giggles and hugs and smiles and kisses and a thousand ways to say "I love you." Clear, sunny days. Cool, relaxing rain pittering against the wall and roof, bringing an odd sense of tranquility.

_ 'Peace.' _ It urged.

Peace of a warm fire, of friendly voices, of Wade's mother and brother and sisters and father. Of childhood friends from other kingdoms. Peace of kind laughter and safety and of having enough to get by.

Peace of rain on the windowsill.

_ 'Now seal it.' _

Wade folded back into himself more and more with each closing word.

_ 'Good. We did well.' _

Wade sighed in relief and opened his eyes, thinking of the rain. It sounded very real for a thought.

Something told him that was okay.

In fact, Wade was very calm about everything.

This is the point in time when he realized he was looking at the canopy over his bed.

Wait, what?

Wade turned his head, looking around. He was absolutely in his room. There was the bedside desk, there was the door to the washroom and the door to the inner courtyard, and there was Pat dozing in a chair, looking utterly exhausted.

Something told Wade he had a limited amount of energy available.

"Pat?" The word was quiet, and Wade's voice was hoarse.

Patrick snapped awake, gaze shooting to Wade. Raw relief spread across the guard's face.

"Wade! You're awake!"

Wade just looked at him. "What happened?"

Pat shook his head, holding up a hand. "No talking, big guy. Judging by the sound of your voice, all the coughing you were doing when I found you did a number on it."

Wade didn't remember coughing.

"I'll hold off on the questions until we get some food and drink into you. Think you can sit up?"

It took a bit of help, but Wade got into a sitting position, and Pat threw a bunch of pillows behind Wade to keep him that way.

"Jus' let me get Marie and JP in here." Pat darted over to the door, opened it a crack, and murmured something to someone outside before coming back.

"Gave us all a big scare there." Pat admitted as he sat in his chair again. "When I found you, you were coughing so hard you weren't breathing. Almost like you were drowning."

Drowning in emotions, yeah.

"I mean, it was raining inside. But not so much that you should have been drowning."

A low rumble from outside.

"It's been raining since. Outside, fortunately. Though the ground is getting pretty soggy from a day and a half of rain."

A day and a half?

"WADE!" A shriek interrupted Wade's thoughts. Wade barely had enough time to register who had just had entered the room before he was being tackled by JP.

All the air wooshed out of his lungs, and Wade involuntarily started coughing.

The arms around Wade pulled back, and weight settled on the side of Wade's bed.

After a few minutes, Wade still hadn't managed to stop coughing, despite conscious effort on his part.

"Move." Pat's voice left no room for argument, and the weight on the side of the bed lifted off.

Two battle-worn hands slipped into Wade's, and a familiar (though rarely used) spell was activated. 

Slowly, Wade's lungs calmed down, and he could breathe normally.

Wade's eyes flew open and he jerked his hands away from Pat's, frowning. "Pat."

Pat sank onto the bed, literally shaking.

Marie put her hands on Pat's shoulders, and while one of his hands moved to cover hers, Pat made no sounds.

"Bob, help me get Patrick to our room. JP will be fine here with Wade for the time being."

"Yes, ma'am." Bob's voice said quietly, coming over to the bed.

So many people in such a closed space.

Pat's eyes were closed as Bob threw Pat's arm over his shoulder and, with Marie supporting Pat's other side, walked him out of the room.

"Is this going to be normal?" JP asked. "I mean, I know the spell worked. I felt it settle. But I wasn't expecting you to sleep for so long after."

"Pat said a day and a half?"

JP nodded, handing Wade a cup with something warm inside. "Yup. You've officially been Lord of the Seventh Realm for three days now. Well, you're only halfway through the third day, but it's close enough."

Wade shook his head. "It should get better as I get more used to performing the spell."

"Good."

JP paused. "So, uh, I was wrong. About not having great magic."

Wade sighed, some part of him relaxing in relief at knowing that.

"Marie said there's a...ceremony to make me your heir?"

Wade nodded, taking a sip of his drink. "Yes."

"I guess we're gonna do it?"

"Yes. Probably tomorrow night. I don't feel comfortable leaving the Realm unprotected in case something happens to me."

JP looked decidedly uncomfortable at that. "I'm not ready to rule a Realm."

"Hopefully, you'll never have to. You're just here until I get my own kid -- or kids."

JP laughed. "You've gotta get married first."

Otherwise the magic of the land wouldn't recognize the kids as heirs. Yes, Wade was aware.

"Let's just get through tomorrow first." Wade said calmly. "Then we'll take it from there."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things will really get to pick up, starting next chapter. Woo!


	8. The Pineapple Heir

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter does have some blood in it. I don't consider it enough for the warning (at least, not yet), so consider this your warning. It's near the very end, and only lasts a few paragraphs.

Wade still felt tired as he watched Reginald fuss over JP’s outfit for the heir ceremony.

Wade thought JP looked fine. More than fine, actually. He looked like a member of Wade’s household, with the red tunic and Wade’s new insignia emblazoned on the front, and with a black edge of fabric around the collar, hem, and sleeves of the tunic -- unlike Wade’s red edging.

“Can I be done?” JP tugged at his tunic, causing it to bunch under his knife belt.

“Milord, must the young master be armed?” Reginald glanced up at Wade.

“Yes.”

“Surely you aren’t armed all the time.”

“Currently, I am wearing three weapons.” Wade paused. “Would have four if I thought I could get away with wearing my sword inside.”

“But why? There’s no need.”

“I’ve had people try to kill me before.” Waid said grimly. “I’d to make it as difficult as possible should it happen again.”

“Surely Capta-”

Wade raised an eyebrow.

“--Guardsman Patrick can handle anything. He’s even awaiting you now.”

As if cued, Pat walked into the room and took his customary place leaning against the wall. A day and a half’s rest had done him good, and he looked a lot better now.

“I’d rather be safe and not sorry.” Wade said simply.

JP tugged on his tunic again, looking uncomfortable. Reginald turned, frowning, but Wade was already shaking his head.

“I’ll help him. Go make sure everything is set up.”

Reginald bowed stiffly, but complied.

Wade gave JP’s tunic a tug, straightening it, then smiled at him. “You’ll be fine.”

“Is Bob gonna be there?”

Wade nodded. “He’ll be in the audience.” Bob had already been sent home for the day, so Pat had grabbed one of the fortress guards for the evening, who was currently standing at attention across the room, watching JP.

“Great. He’s really smart. We have a lot of fun during lessons.”

Wade gave JP another lookover. “You look ready to go.”

Pat just shuffled to a fully standing position.

“I’m glad you already taught me how to read already, though.” JP added, stepping next to Wade as they began walking. “Otherwise all the lessons would be taking a lot longer.”

“Told you it’d come in useful.” Wade said, remembering how much JP had protested learning.

A pause. “Pat, do you know how to read?” JP asked.

“Some things.” Pat grinned at JP. “Enough to do my job.”

“I’ve never seen you have to read things.” JP looked at Wade, probably asking for the story behind Pat reading.

“It’s not a big part. Doesn’t happen very often.”

Understanding dawned on JP’s face. “...so you can’t read.”

“Glad you figured that out.”

“But Marie can read. I saw her reading stuff earlier today.”

“Marie grew up the daughter of one of the royal tutors. Her mother was the one to teach her how to read and do arithmetics.”

“What do your parents do?”

Wade frowned. Pat might not want to answer that, all things considered.

“My father died from the same sickness that killed your mother, so he does being dead, but he was part of the royal guard before that. He’s the reason Wade and I even met, and how I became his personal guard.” Pat’s voice was deliberately even. “My mother is a stablehand. Teaches little nobles to ride.”

“She was the one who taught you how to care for Pineapple.” Wade inputted.

“Oh, she’s nice! Did she teach you?”

Wade shook his head. “No. My father taught me.”

JP fell silent.

Only for a minute, though.

“You taught me to read. Why don’t you teach Pat?”

“He’s always insisted he doesn’t have time to learn.” Wade said dryly.

“I’m protecting you. Concentrating hard enough on something to learn it will result in you being unprotected.”

Wade made a _see?_ gesture to JP.

JP made his thoughtful face. “Well... why don’t I teach Pat while Wade does the protection spell thingy, or while we spend evenings together? Then there will be another guard around to help out.”

Pat hmmm-ed at that.

“I’m okay with it, Pat, if you are.” Wade said.

Pat sighed and messed with his beanie. “Lemme talk to Marie about it. I’ll get back to you on that.” 

“Why can’t you answer now?”

Pat smirked. “We’re here, so it’s time.” Pat pointed to the doors to the Great Hall.

“Aww.” JP hung his head. “I was hoping you’d forget.”

Wade and Pat burst into laughter.

“No, JP, we’re not forgetting something this important.” Wade shook his head.

“I tried to distract you.”

Pat chuckled, urging Wade and JP through the doors to the Great Hall.

Something told Wade, as he looked out over the gathered crowd once more, that a few people were here to try and flirt with JP. And a few more were here to hurt him.

Well, the fortress guard was stationed the best it could be with so few members. And Pat was here. That would have to do.

‘Ready?’

“I’m not ready, Wade.” JP whispered.

“All you have to do is stand there.” Wade whispered back. “I do all the talking.” Wade had, of course, gone over the ceremony with JP before he’d been fussed over by Reginald. But the reminder wouldn’t hurt the kid.

“Okay, I guess.”

The crowd was still murmuring. One particularly brave girl waved at JP, and he waved back.

So this was how it was going to be.

Wade put his hand on JP’s shoulder, then stepped forward. The crowd shushed almost instantly.

“This is Jeremiah.” Wade said, glancing at various members of the crowd, trying to get a feel for their reactions. “He’s been found to have the magic necessary to work the protection spells. Until the time I have a confirmed child, he is my heir. Should anything happen to me, he will be the next Lord of the Seventh Realm.”

A single red spark zipped around JP, almost leaving a glowing trail in its wake. Nothing on the scale of what had happened to Wade, but it was clearly similar.

Wade let go of JP’s shoulder and let whatever celebration Marie had planned take place.

It didn’t take long for Wade to find himself quietly observing the crowd, Pat on one side and Marie on the other, and answering questions of those who even bothered to approach him.

Most of the questions were by merchants and ship captains wanting to know of any policy changes about trade.

Then Wade noticed the woman and man from the market, glaring in his general direction.

Quietly, Wade gestured for Pat to follow, then excused himself and walked over to her.

The woman seemed to wince a little when the two men got close.

“Hello.” Wade said.

The woman curtsied, and her husband bowed. “To what do I owe the great honor of your attention, milord Barnes?”

“Your sister Molly was reported missing three months ago, yes?”

The woman nodded. “Yes, milord.”

“Are you comfortable answering questions? The more information I have, the more appropriately I can respond to this sort of thing.”

The woman nodded. “I’ll do anything to get my sister back, milord.”

Wade just gestured for them to follow, then led them away from the main gathering floor to the quieter room where he’d been waiting to become Lord of the Seventh Realm just a few days earlier.

Taking a seat, Wade gestured for the two common-born folk to do the same.

“What can you tell me?” Wade asked.

“Molly didn’t run away, milord.” The woman’s eyes flashed. “She loves our family and home too much for that.”

“I don’t imagine she would do something like running away.” Wade said calmly. “But I know nothing of the situation.”

Except what he’d heard them say in the market, but it probably wasn’t smart to mention that.

The woman hesitated for a fraction of a second, then nodded. “The two of us got married in the forest three months ago. During the dances afterwards, we realized Molly had disappeared.” The woman shook her head. “Nobody could find her, and we searched as thoroughly as we could without breaking any trespassing laws.”

Wade made a thoughtful face, mostly because he wasn’t aware of trespassing laws in the forest and now needed to research it. “Was there anything weird going on in the environment or the weather or anything similar?”

The woman looked at her husband.

“It was fairly overcast.” The man looked at Wade. “A bit windy. Seemed like it was going to rain, but it never did.”

"A few growls from one end of the clearing, too. We made sure to keep the children away from that part." The woman looked thoughtful. I saw a deer wander close by."

"Did you get a good look at it?"

A nod. "It was one of the spotted ones, with huge eyes. A younger doe, I think. She seemed curious about all the noise we were making."

Wade felt Pat shift behind the chair as much as he heard the faint hiss of Pat's chainmail moving.

"Was this before or after your sister went missing?"

"Before, I think. I saw her talking to mother before that, but I don't remember seeing her after."

Well, that opened up a disturbing selection of possibilities.

"Thank you," Wade said as he stood, "and if you think of any additional information, let me know."

The woman and her husband stood, gave their farewell genuflections, and returned to the ongoing celebration -- which had likely taken more to the streets where more people could join in.

"No real doe would get that close to that many people." Pat objected, glancing at the party from his place next to the door.

"I know. But a monster doe might."

"Maybe, but not likely." Pat's gaze returned to Wade.

"It's more likely than what you're suggesting."

"I dunno. The protection spell was weak for how long? Who knows what found its way into the Realm."

"I won't discard the idea, but --"

_AAAAIIIHHHHHH!!!_

Wade bolted to the Great Hall to see what had caused such a shriek. Something told him it wasn't good.

As fast as Wade was, Pat was faster, darting just far enough ahead that he could keep Wade from charging headlong into danger.

Then Wade could see. The crowd had separated to the sides of the Hall, and in the middle, a woman was kneeling  over a familiar form. Only now, wearing giant claw marks that had gone straight through the standard issue armor the man was wearing.

Blood was everywhere.

"Bob?" Pat's voice went soft for a second. 

Wade just ran right up to Bob, readying his healing magic.

Good. Bob was still breathing, albeit not very well.

Wade knelt next to Bob, glanced at the woman (must have been some family member or friend), and hovered his right hand over the most prominent of Bob's injuries. 

Honestly, Wade wasn't sure if he could heal enough of Bob in time, but he was going to try.

Bob's skin and muscle pulled back together. It wasn't pretty, but until Wade got Bob not-dying, it would have to do.

_'Here. Together.'_

A soft red glow surrounded Wade's hand, then spilled into all of Bob's wounds. Near instantly, everything was looking like it had never been damaged in the first place.

"Three other guards are injured." Pat's voice said in Wade's ear. "One is dead."

Bob's eyes opened, and Wade stood, ignoring the weariness he felt from healing. More people needed that healing.

"What happened?" Pat asked Bob as Wade walked away.

"JP. The thing -- the demon -- took JP."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dun!
> 
> I should not be posting these at midnight.


	9. He Who Needed a Healer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone needs a healer, and Wade fits the bill.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is from a bit of a perspective change. I've done my best to make sure identities are identifiable, though.

For the fellow wandering the city, JP’s kidnapping was as unknown as could be. News didn’t spread very well during the middle of the night. Even if he had known, desperation would have caused him to ignore it for now.

He needed a healer.

Not just someone trained with healing abilities. No, there were people like that already at camp. Without their tools and medicines, they were limited in what they could do.

He needed someone with healing magic.

And he needed to find them quickly.

He glanced at the sky. Still about seven hours to dawn. Since it took him an hour to get back, he had six hours to find someone with healing magic.

And if he was late getting back to camp...

A chill ran through him. That would put his friends in an incredible amount of danger. The demons holding them would go crazy if they learned someone had found a way to escape the camp.

No, as much as he hated it, he would have to go back to the demon camp and pretend he’d never found a way out.

Maybe he should go to the authorities. That’d go well, right? Just say ‘I know where all the missing people are. They’ve been kidnapped by demons and are being held deep in the forest. I can take you there through the tunnel system I found.’

...considering the rumors he’d heard about Lord Havendal and his men, that would probably just get him called crazy and maybe even locked up.

And then he wouldn’t be back in time and the others would be in trouble.

He sighed. Now he was back to square one -- find someone with healing magic and take them to the camp. But now he’d been looking for three hours  and he hadn’t heard a hint of who could have healing magic.

Probably because it was an hour and a half after midnight. Not a lot of people wandering around and talking.

He frowned. He needed somewhere with people awake.

...the fortress had lights shining.

Slowly, so as to avoid detection, he crept up to the fortress.

Did he dare ask a guard for help?

No, the demons would smell it on him. If the smell didn’t line up with anyone in the camp...

He could only get near the healer.

Hefting a rock, he threw it as far to one side of the guards at the gate as he could. It landed with a soft click.

The guards didn’t seem to notice.

He Who Needed a Healer rolled his eyes. Havendal had certainly improved the number of guards, since there were guards for a closed gate, but these guys weren’t very attentive.

Good. Made it easier to sneak.

He Who Needed a Healer darted over to a tree next to the moat, then pulled himself into the thick of the branches and leaves. Nice of Havendal to leave a weakness like this.

He waited until the guards were looking in literally any other direction, then jumped to the wall.

The impact of his body on the stone, of course, made noise.

The guards stiffened, hands dropping to weapons.

Okay, that was a bit of an extreme reaction. Had something happened?

Not really wanting to think about that, He Who Needed a Healer quickly and quietly scaled the wall.

Soon after dropping inside the wall (ow, ankles), he noticed two things. The first was a servant’s door to the outside world. That he would need for his escape. 

The second thing was one of the inner fortress walls having a giant hole in it, like something smashed through.

He didn’t want to go there, so he wandered the opposite direction.

Where was he now? Some...those were plants. A garden?

“We received letters from the royal houses of the Land of the Squirrels and Bossatron, both requesting to have representatives visit.” A woman’s voice.

“That should be fine.” A deeper voice responded.

Was this...Lord Havendal? He was wandering the area as well? Or was it Lord Havendal’s steward?

Either way, that meant a guard.

He Who Needed a Healer ducked into the shadows.

“Is milord alright after tonight?” That was a youth’s voice.

“He’s uninjured.” That voice belonged to a man, or perhaps an older teen.

“But is he alright?”

He Who Needed a Healer peaked over the bush, trying to see everything.

A guard, it looked like. A servant -- likely Havendal’s. A woman, likely important. And finally, an extremely tall, bearded man, trailing behind them.

Havendal allowed his men to have beards? That wasn’t right. Tall Man must not work for Havendal.

Which made sense. The tall man was dressed plainly. No emblems or insignias adorned his clothes. He himself looked rather rumpled and tired, as if he’d been woken for something. 

“How many people did he heal?” Youth’s voice said. The shortest of the three figures gestured wildly at Tall Man.

“Four guards and three others who got hit when the wall exploded.” Tall Man said wearily. His was the deeper voice.

Oh, so he was Havendal’s healer. 

But why was he approving visitors, then?

“Do you realize how large of a hole there is in the fortress right now?” Guard responded. “I’m in charge of Heal-a-lot’s safety here. I’m not letting him out of my sights after what happened.”

“He needs to rest.”

“I want to find JP.” Tall Man said. “I want to make sure he’s okay.”

Who was JP? Why was Havendal’s healer so concerned about JP?

“Agreed.” Youth said.

“You’re not looking for him. We need you here.” Guard said, glaring at Tall Man.

“The young master must be found before that demon does something horrible to him!” Youth argued.

“JP’s not dead.” Guard deadpanned. “You don’t KIDNAP THE BRAND-SPANKIN’-NEW HEIR OF THE REALM if you plan to instantly kill.”

Oh no.

The demons had captured Havendal’s heir?

No wonder security was tighter.

As Guard and Youth continued to argue, with the woman trying to calm them down, Tall Man wandered away from them, staring at the sky with a concerned expression on his face. In fact, Tall Man stopped mere inches away from He Who Needed a Healer.

“Where are you, JP?” Tall Man murmured. “How many more will I have to heal from demon attacks before this mess is resolved.”

Tall Man had the ability to heal demon wounds... definitely Havendal’s healer, then. Definitely who was good to ... encourage to come to the camp.

The other three were a good three and a half dozen feet away.

He could handle that.

So He Who Needed a Healer jumped from the bushes and grabbed Tall Man, who instantly gave a shout (more of a scream, really). But after a slam from an elbow, Tall Man went limp, and He Who Needed a Healer grabbed him and ran.

By now, Guard was close, so He Who Needed a Healer grabbed a rock and threw it, already regretting the pain Guard would be feeling. 

Guard’s cry of pain was loud, but somehow intelligible.

“Wade!”


	10. Molly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wade wakes up in an unfamiliar location, and meets some new friends.

“Oh, I think he’s waking up.”

Wade opened his eyes, surprised at how little he hurt. He’d been hit in the face, right? But nothing hurt. Well, his nose ached a little, but that was it.

A man was watching Wade. “Yup. He’s awake.”

Wade sat up, trying to take in his surroundings. He was in a tent, and voices were drifting through the worn and torn fabric walls.

On either side of Wade was a person, both dirty and worn down in appearance.

“Hi.” The first one that had spoken spoke again. “I’m Entoan. This is Dlive.”

“Welcome to the worst conditions since the last war.” Dlive said.

Both Entoan and Dlive had bandages on their legs, and Entoan’s left arm was in a makeshift sling.

“Are you two okay?”

“Could be better.” Entoan shifted his arm.

“Nobody is okay here, plain and simple.” Dlive crossed his arms.

“I dunno. The new kid seems to be okay.”

“Not for long.”

Entoan shook his head. “Hey, new guy, you good to walk?”

Wade nodded. “Yeah. And I’m Wade.”

“Great. Get out of here, then. You take up a lot of space.” Dlive made as if to stretch his injured leg, but winced.

“I’d show you out, but I can’t really walk either.” Entoan added.

“You would be, if you hadn’t defended Molly.”

“At least I have an excuse.”

“Molly doesn’t need defending.”

“You just started screaming. What, did you cut your leg on a rock crawling through some cave to try and find a way out of here?”

“...maybe.”

“Well, when you find one, just leave.”

“I’m not leaving my friends.” Dlive retorted.

Wade blinked. “I can heal you guys.”

Entoan grinned. “Look at that. A nice guy.”

Dlive looked suspicious. “How do we know he’s not a quack, trying to scam us?”

“We don’t even have money.”

Wade sighed. “Here.” He gestured for Entoan’s arm.

Entoan hesitated, then used his uninjured arm to pull his other arm out of the sling, grimacing at the pain.

Wade grimaced. Entoan’s arm was very clearly broken, in a lot of places.

“What happened?” Wade asked as he readied his magic.

“Oh, a demon threw me.” Entoan said casually.

Another mention of demons.

Was Wade with the missing people?

“The other healers said if my arm didn’t heal alone, I’d lose it.” Entoan added. “So I don’t know what you can do for it.”

Wade just hovered his hand over Entoan’s arm. “I’ll try to keep this from hurting, but it’s so bad I might not be able to, entirely.”

“What are you going to do to it?” Entoan asked nervously.

“Heal it, like I said.” Wade said, before beginning.

From the expression on Entoan’s face, he could feel the bones and muscle and so on pulling back into place and regenerating. It couldn’t have hurt, though, or Entoan would be screaming right now.

“That’s disgusting.” Dlive declared.

“It doesn’t hurt.” Entoan’s eyes grew wide. “It feels weird, but it doesn’t hurt.”

Wade sat back on his heels. “Give your fingers a wiggle.”

Entoan did so, and pure relief spread across his face. Then he wiggled his wrist. Then his elbow. Then his whole arm.

“It’s all better!”

Wade smiled. He couldn’t do too many healings on that scale, due to the energy it cost, but he was happy nothing in Entoan’s arm had been damaged beyond repair.

“Can you fix his leg?” Dlive asked.

Wade nodded. “Probably.”

Entoan just gave a grateful grin to Wade. “Oh, thank you.”

Wade just nodded again. “What happened to your leg?”

“Still the demon.”

“Did it break the skin at all?”

“Yeah, I got clawed under the bandage.”

“Why do you have to know?” Dlive asked. “Can’t you just heal him?”

“If i know what exactly is wrong and how it got that way, it makes healing the wound a lot easier.” Wade hovered his hand over Entoan’s leg.

Soon enough, Entoan was moving his leg without any pain at all.

“Your turn.” Wade turned to Dlive.

Dlive complied, silent this time.

“Hey Wade, do you have anyone looking for you?” Entoan asked.

Oh, only the entire fortress. “Yeah, probably.”’

“They won’t find you.” Dlive scowled. “This place is hidden by spells.”

“I believe in my friend.” Wade said simply.

Dlive slid into a crouching position. “Yeah, well, I hope you’re right. Then all of us could get out of this place.”

Wade took a moment to think about that while Dlive and Entoan crawled out of the tent.

The spell that let Pat use Wade’s healing magic to heal Wade did a lot more than just that. Under normal circumstances, it let Pat know where Wade approximately was and if he was injured.

But with spells hiding the camp... Pat may not be able to find Wade through the spells.

So Wade had to figure this out quickly.

Taking a deep breath, Wade crawled out of the tent.

All around him were people, doing various things. Some were tending plants, or cutting down some of the trees that had spilled from the forest around into the clearing. Some were spinning thread as they walked around. Some were cooking.

The people seemed to be arranged in groups, Wade noticed as he followed Dlive and Entoan. Six sleeping spots to a campfire, makeshift mattresses and pillows made of twigs and leaves and grass.

Without fail, five of the six spots were pretty evenly sized. The sixth varied widely.

“Good thing we’ve got room for you.” Dlive spoke over his shoulder. “Even with the new kid.”

“I’m not sure Molly’s going to like two newbies at once.” Entoan warned. 

“She’ll be okay when she finds out Wade’s a healer.” A pause. “Okay, see that blonde woman?” Dlive pointed to a (rather pretty) woman a campfire away. “That’s Molly.”

Entoan just sighed. “Come on. Let’s get this over with.” He walked towards Molly.

“The kid sitting on the ground next to her is the other newbie. Got here a few hours before you did. The demon that brought him in says the kid is the Heir to the Realm.”

“JP?” Wade asked.

“What? You believe it? Havendal doesn’t have an heir.”

“There’s a new lord.” Wade said quietly.

The teen, now standing, looked around.

Already, Wade knew. He recognized the outfit from the heir ceremony.

“JP!” Wade dashed over.

“Wade!” JP shrieked, and then Wade was being tackled with a hug so forceful that Wade fell over.

“They know each other? JP and the healer?” A woman’s voice.

JP let go of Wade, grinning. “This is Wade.”

“Hi.” Wade said.

Molly’s eyes widened. “ _ The _ Wade?”

“Uh-huh.” JP said cheerfully.

Molly scowled. “Great. Not only do I have to keep the Heir to the Realm safe and alive, but I have to care for our  _ beloved _ Lord Barnes himself. Even though he’s still probably going to end up dead.”


	11. The Demon Camp

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wade finally gets at least a few answers.

“He’s only going to die if the demons in charge find out who he is.” Dlive argued.

“Yeah, well, let’s not let that happen.” Molly replied.

“Wade? What’s going to happen to us?” JP asked, still holding tightly to Wade.

Wade carefully disengaged JP from him. “No idea.”

“Are there any nice demons?” JP asked, looking around at the other three adults.

Dlive shook his head. “That’s why they’re demons.”

“Some are gentler than others.” Entoan said. “You’ll meet the one in charge of us soon enough.”

“We have our own demon?” JP asked.

“A demon has us.” Molly corrected.

“Oh.” JP looked around again. “How long have you guys been here?”

“Entoan and I have been here about a year.” Dlive said.

“What about you, Molly?”

“Three months.” Wade was the one to answer.

Molly looked at Wade, clearly surprised. “How did you know that?”

“I’ve been working with your sister to try and find you.”

“She willingly cooperated with nobility?”

“She yelled at me a few times first.” Wade said. “Though not always when she knew I was in the area.”

“Sounds about right.” Molly said. “Okay, you met my sister. Does that mean people know about where you were looking to get captured like this? And someone will be coming to rescue you?”

Wade shook his head. “I wasn’t out looking when I was captured. I was trying to figure out how to get JP back. Nobody knows where I am.”

“Pat’ll figure it out.” JP said confidently.

“We’ll see.” Wade smiled at JP. “But in the meantime, we need to assume we’re on our own.”

“You’re smart. You can figure out a way out.”

Wade sighed. “I appreciate the confidence, but I have no idea how I’d do that.”

“Well, we could --”

Dlive’s hand over JP’s mouth, and Molly’s hand simultaneously touched Wade’s arm, silencing them both.

“Fresh meat in this camp!” a voice bellowed as a frightening figure stopped in front of the group.

“Oh take one before he gets back!” Another voice gravelled. “Then he’ll have lost three in a moon.”

A chuckle-like sound emerged from the first figure. “Perhaps the littlest one. Heirs taste good, right?”

A deep, rumbling growl, as if from a large wolf.

“Oh, didn’t see you there.” the first figure said.

Another growl.

“Don’t be ridiculous. I wasn’t going to steal one of your humans.”

A third growl, and a form stepped out from behind the first figure. A large wolf. Had Wade been standing, the wolf’s head would have come to Wade’s armpit. The single wing coming from its back would have come even higher than that, though.

The wolf’s teeth were bared, and both a red eye and a blue eye glowed fiercely.

Another growl, definitely from the giant wolf.

“Fine, I’ll leave. Don’t leave your humans alone for so long again, though. I think your female found a mate.”

Molly’s hand flew off Wade’s arm.

The wolf -- certainly a demon wolf -- glared at the first figure until it left, then picked up a bundle with its mouth, gently holding the leather. It padded over to the humans, then sprawled in the sixth spot before setting down the bundle.

“You brought fresh food!” Molly exclaimed.

The demon wagged his tail slightly, but mostly just laid his head on his paws and watched as Molly began giving out orders -- for Entoan to help JP sort what the demon had brought, for Dlive to go get firewood.

“We need more water, too. The bucket’s nearly empty. Wade, you can --”

The demon stood, then padded to Wade and sniffed him.

“Bluemoon...” Molly said warningly.

The demon gave Molly a wolfy grin and wagged his tail before scooping up the handle of the large wooden bucket Molly had gestured to in his mouth and bumping Wade with his nose.

“He’d better come back in one piece.” Molly warned again.

Bluemoon paused (or, rather, pawsed), then pointed his nose at Molly’s right hand.

“You want to see my hand?”

Bluemoon nodded.

Molly held it out, palm up. “The swirls are still there, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

Familiar red sparks were swirling under Molly’s skin.

Bluemoon just pointed his nose at Wade’s right hand.

Wade held out his hand.

Yep. The swirls were still there.

Bluemoon wagged his tail again.

“Wait, why does he have swirls?” Molly asked.

Wade shrugged. “They showed up almost a week ago.”

“Five nights ago for me.” Molly said.

“Oh, look, soulmates.” Dlive smirked.

Molly rolled her eyes. “That’s for Wade and I to decide, not magic.”

Wade let out a stuttering sigh. After all, he had to marry someone with nobility magic.

“It’s okay, Wade.” JP said. “I want to talk to her anyways. I’ll just do that while you get water.”

Bluemoon’s wing came up and urged Wade forward, forcing Wade to move or get hit.

Bluemoon led Wade past a few other campsites that were more and more separated by distance than the ones in the other direction. In fact, it seemed like Wade’s group was closer to the edge of the campfires, something solidified by the growing number of trees.

Trees grew closer together, and the sound of running water reached Wade’s ears.

Still, Bluemoon urged Wade onwards.

Eventually, they came to a clear stream, where Bluemoon dropped the bucket onto the ground. Then he urged Wade on once more.

They seemed to be in the mountains, something Wade was only able to see now that he was out of the camp. Currently, Wade was being herded upstream, and the ground was getting pretty rocky.

Suddenly, Bluemoon veered Wade away from the stream, towards a large set of boulders, all piled on top of one another.

Wade hesitated. What was this demon doing?

A long moment of silence.

Then the wing that had been pressing up against Wade disappeared. Surprised, Wade turned.

A man was standing there, grinning. “This is my human form.”

Wade paused, trying to understand this new turn of events.

“I had to change forms to talk to you.” He shrugged. “Wolf mouths aren’t really designed to form a lot of human sounds.”

Wade decided to go with the most obvious question. “What are we doing here, Bluemoon?”

“You can call me Gar, Lord Barnes.” Gar smiled.

Wade shifted uncomfortably. “What?” Maybe he could bluff his way out of this.

“I know who you are.” Gar said. “I didn’t last night, or I wouldn’t have brought you here.”

Wade rubbed his face where he’d been hit the night before. “Ow.”

“Sorry.” Gar looked at the ground for a moment. “Anyways, it’s really not safe for you here, all things considered. Those rocks hide a tunnel that’ll take you just outside Septimal.”

Wade shook his head. “And what will happen if I leave?”

Gar shrugged, but glanced away. “Nothing you need to worry about.” 

“Are they going to do something to you?”

Gar sighed. “Considering I’d have to say you died, yes, I would get in trouble. And my friends would be assigned to different demons. But you have to go. The Realm needs you.”

“Let me guess. They’d be reassigned because you’ll be dead.” Wade said flatly.

Gar shrugged again. “I am semi-immortal. I’d eventually manage to come back.”

Wade looked at the boulders. “No.”

“You need to go.”

“The people here are my jurisdiction. I need to see them free before I can go.”

“You’ll probably die.”

“And others will definitely die. I’m staying.”

Gar let out a groan. “You’re going to die.” He glared at Wade. “And once you’re dead, they’ll eat JP.”

“Well, why didn’t you bring him here? He’d go without arguing.”

“Because they’re tracking him.”

“Okay, who is ‘they’?”

“The demons in charge.” Gar stopped abruptly and sighed. “Fine. If you stay, we need to get the water. And you aren’t allowed to go anywhere alone -- either I or Molly have to be with you at all times.”

Gar started walking back to the stream, and after a moment of hesitation, Wade followed.

“Now,” Gar continued, “ the demons in charge want to be in control of the Realm.”

Of course.

“I’m pretty sure they have to completely undo the protection spell for their plan to work. Which can only be done by someone who has performed the spell in the past.” Gar frowned. “At least, I’m pretty sure.”

“Why are you here, taking a part of this?” Wade crossed his arms.

Gar stopped at the stream and picked up the bucket. “I’m trying to keep people safe.” Gar knelt and dipped the bucket into the water. “Two hundred people have died here in the past year. All but five were from injuries from demons. Or being eaten.”

“Why do you want to protect people? You’re a demon too.”

“Yes, but I’m a nice one. And people are fascinating. No matter how much I study  them, there’s always more to study.” Gar grinned, then stood with the bucket now full of water.

“Is there any way to get rid of the other demons?”

“Rumors.” Gar said. “None of them were summoned, though, so they can’t just be sent back.”

“What about you?”

Gar shifted uncomfortably. “I was summoned a long time ago. The person who summoned me forgot to put a clause in the binding spell to make sure I was sent back if they died. And they did die -- no, I didn’t kill them. And I was set free from the binding and have been exploring the human world ever since.”

“When was that?”

“Oh, like the year 450-something.” Gar shrugged.

Wade paused. “It’s 372 right now.”

“Huh. When was the last calendar change?”

“372 years ago.”

Gar rolled his eyes. “From what era?”

“The current countries in this area came about from the fall of the YouTubian Empire.”

“I was summoned by the head magician of the first Emperor. I was only like 90 at the time.”

Wade just stared at Gar.

“What?” Gar asked.

“You’re _old._ ”

“How long ago was it?”

“The YouTubian Empire lasted for 585 years.”

“So I’ve been here for 907 years straight. No big deal. Still makes me one of the younger demons.”

Wade just shook his head. “You’re a thousand years old.”

“Not quite. Wanna go back before Molly thinks I killed you?”

Wade nodded, glancing the direction of camp. When he looked back, Gar was a giant wolf once more, and the hike back began.


	12. Conversations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Various conversations, some puns, and a problem with the nicest demon in the camp.

“Did you hear that groan when I mentioned soulmates?” Dlive laughed.

“Yeah, it's like he doesn’t want to marry a total stranger.” Entoan rolled his eyes and sat next to the bundle, beginning to sort things. 

“It’s more complicated than that.” JP said quietly. Well, as quietly as JP ever said things. “He has to marry someone with great magic -- nobility magic.”

“Why? You’re already in place as his heir.” Dlive asked.

“And what if something happens to me?” JP asked simply. “He needs his own kids. And without marrying another noble, the kids having great magic is almost impossible.”

“Aren’t nobles supposed to be all frivolous and carefree?”

“Not the good ones.”

“Well, aren’t there common-born people with the nobility magic?” Entoan asked.

“You’re looking at one.” JP nodded. “But there’s like a one in 4000 or so chance of that happening.”

“I’ll still talk to him.” Molly said. “I don’t want to be stuck with these sparkles forever.” She knelt next to the campfire and began stacking wood in it, even though Dlive had yet to get more and the supply was rather low. “Who knows. Wade might decide to leave it all in your hands.”

JP frowned. “I doubt it. I’m not very good at big decisions, and all the decisions involved in ruling a Realm are big decisions.”

“Come help me sort, kid.” Entoan said, and JP obediently moved to help.

“How long until Wade gets back?” JP dropped next to Entoan.

“They just left for water like ten minutes ago.” Dlive replied. “It’ll be a few minutes before we hear the blood curdling scream telling us of his death.”

“Bluemoon’s nice.” Entoan said. “Besides, Molly would kill him if he killed Wade.”

“I’m sure the fear will just stop him in his tracks.” Dlive rolled his eyes. “Since Molly is so much scarier than a demon.”

“I have a question.” JP asked, not looking up from the food he was (very carefully and very gently) sorting.

“Go for it.” Molly said.

“None of the demons seemed worried about you and Wade getting together. They even laughed. Why?”

“A lot of demons find human cultures amusing.” Molly shrugged. “I have no idea why.”

“We’re hilarious, didn’t you know?” Dlive laughed.

“Some of us are, yes.” Entoan agreed.

Dlive scowled at Entoan. “Very funny.”

Entoan laughed. “I know.”

A long pause.

“Hey, Molly, who’s cooking tonight?” Entoan asked.

“Does Wade know how to cook?” Molly looked up from the fire, which now consisted of small flames licking at the wood.

“Sorta. He’s not very good at it, though he’s better than I am.”

“Then we’ll see how he does.” Molly said simply.

“Here he comes now.” Dlive said, pointing to the edge of the clearing.

Wade was carrying the bucket, walking all alone.

“Where’s Bluemoon?” Molly asked.

“He went hunting as soon as we got back to camp.” Wade set down the bucket.

“Good. He eats as much of us as the rest of us combined.” Dlive muttered.

“He’s a giant wolf. Wouldn’t that mean he has to eat more?” JP asked.

“No idea.” Dlive admitted.

“What needs to be done now?” Wade asked.

“You’re cooking the food for tonight.” Molly replied. “Have fun.” She pointed to a pile that appeared to be dirt. “The pans are under there.”

Wade just sighed. “Hope you like food made by an inexperienced cook.”

\-------

While the meal cooked, Wade took a moment to pull JP aside.

“Are we gonna be okay?” JP asked.

“I hope so.” Wade said. Then he sighed. “But in case I don’t make it out of this place alive, for whatever reason, you need to know how to perform the protection spell.”

JP froze. “That’s scary. You’ll make it out, though. We both will.”

“That’s the goal. But if things get bad...” Wade sighed. “The Realm needs to be protected.”

“Why can’t someone else do it?”

“Because if anyone without great magic performs the spell, they’ll die.” Wade’s voice was as serious as it could be.

“That’s why anyone who has great magic becomes automatic nobility.” JP’s eyes widened as he understood.

“Exactly.”

JP frowned. “I remember stories of people without nobility magic performing the protection spell, though.”

“Oh, the spell will go through.” Wade assured. “It’ll settle. But the person doing it will still die.”

“Oh.” JP sighed. “I guess I have to know how, then. And not tell anyone so they don’t die of it.”

Wade nodded in agreement, then quietly taught JP the spell, frequently checking to make sure nobody else was listening in.

“Got all of that?” Wade asked finally.

JP nodded. “I think so.”

“Dlive!” Molly didn’t sound happy. “You didn’t get firewood.”

“Whoops.” Dlive said blandly.” Guess I forgot when you were gushing about Wade.”

“I wasn’t gushing. Go get wood.”

“Wouldn’t you want Wade to do that?” 

“I’m cooking the food.” Wade said, walking over to the group, JP close behind. “Makes it hard to get fuel for the fire, if you  _ wood _ believe it.”

A long moment of silence.

“Was that a pun?” Entoan asked suspiciously.

Wade grinned.

“Oh look, he thinks he’s funny.” Dlive said.

Molly was just shaking her head.

“He does it a lot.” JP said.

“Oh, come on.” Wade grinned again. “You know you  _ wood pine _ for these jokes if I didn’t tell them on a regular basis.”

Molly groaned.

“Was that one pun, or two?” Entoan’s eyes narrowed.

“If he told you, that  _ wood _ take all the fun out of it.” JP said.

“I’m gonna get fuel for the fire.” Dlive stood. “I can’t stand this.” He quickly walked off.

“I knew he  _ wood  _ go.” Wade grinned once more.

Molly just put her head in her hands with another groan.

\---------

Wade was tending the coals of the fire when Gar returned several hours later. The large demon wolf dropped into his sleeping spot, completely silent.

A soft snore from JP, who was already asleep.

Wade looked up and gasped.

Claw marks ran down Gar’s left shoulder, glistening wetly.

“What demon fought you?” Molly asked.

Gar lifted his head to look at Molly, an action that looked painful, but he didn’t really seem to register she was awake.

“He’s still bleeding.” Dlive pointed out.

“I’m going to heal him.” Wade said abruptly.

“What? No, the injury might make him go crazy.”

Wade just stood and walked over to the demon. “Is it okay if I heal you?”

A single tail wag, and Gar nodded.

“Human magic doesn’t work on demons.” Molly warned. “Besides like, weapons and stuff.”

“I’ll give it my best shot.” Wade crouched next to the injuries, trying to get a good look with the fading light.

It hadn’t been getting this dark a month ago, had it? No. Fall was definitely coming.

Wade put his hand over the gashes and focused on healing.

Nothing happened.

“Well, that makes things harder.” Wade stood. “Do we have any medical supplies?”

“No.” Molly replied.

“Any leftover clothes from people who don’t need them anymore?”

“There’s the dump.” Entoan responded. “The demons make us drop all belonging of dead people there, including clothes.”

“Can you get some?”

Entoan nodded, standing.

“Take Dlive.”

“Of course.”

The two walked off.

Wade knelt next to JP and shook his shoulder.

“Mmm?” JP groaned.

“I need you to boil water. Dump some of it in a bucket so Dlive and Entoan can disinfect stuff when they get back. We’re going to need a bunch of clean bandages.”

JP sat up and rubbed his eyes. “Why?”

“Bluemoon’s hurt.” Molly said. “Wade wants to heal him.”

JP yawned. “Okay. I’ll do the water, then.” He slowly rolled to his feet.

Wade looked at Gar, who had closed his eyes and appeared to be trying to sleep.

“Keep him awake. I don’t want him drifting too far and never waking up.”

JP made some sort of acknowledging noise.

“What are you going to be doing?” Molly asked.

“We are going to get some plants. They should help.” Wade glanced at JP. “Can I have a light?”

JP blew into his hands and let go of a dim blue light. “There.” With that, he started the fire up again.

The light floated to hover between Wade and Molly.

“Come on.” Wade looked at the surrounding forest. “Let’s go.”

With that, Wade and Molly ventured into the trees.


	13. The Wall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wade and Molly go trekking through the forest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little bit shorter, but I'm going to be adding a second (also shorter) chapter today or tomorrow to help make up for that.

Molly didn’t look happy as she and Wade trekked through the forest, looking for plants to help Gar heal.

Wade was mostly creeped out by the forest. Dark trees towered over them, and what light the triple moons provided was largely blocked out by massive storm clouds overhead. Not that the moons would have provided a lot of light anyways, since the golden moon was always super faint, and the silver and blue moons were waning and completely new, respectively.

Neither Wade nor Molly said much, except when Molly wanted them to take a moment to hide or take precautions to avoid being spotted by things that were hopefully small animals and not demons. Otherwise, the only words were when Wade spotted one of the plants he needed.

In a strange way, the scene was beautiful. Largely quiet, but with crickets occasionally sounding in the distance. A few fireflies hovered, but didn’t seem very interested in roaming away from the bushes and flowers their glows revealed.

A soft gurgle and babble of water could be heard, and a warm breeze washed over Wade, bringing the distinct tang of rain.

Despite everything that had happened, Wade felt at peace. Yes, he was held prisoner by demons. Yes, he could die. JP could die. Both of them could die, and leave the Realm without someone to perform the protection spell. Demons could take over the Realm and more.

But...

Something told Wade lots of people were looking for him. People who cared about Wade and JP, but who cared about the regular citizens of the Realm even more.

A lot of time could pass until Wade and his new friends found a way to freedom, whether by escaping or being rescued, but they would do it.

“I hope Bluemoon’s okay.” Molly’s voice broke Wade’s train of thought, though she spoke quietly.

“He will be.” Wade assured, just as quietly. “We’ve got one more plant to find before I have enough supplies.”

“What’s this one?” Molly’s question ended in a gasp, and Wade heard a splash.

“Well, you found the stream.”

“Now my toes are all wet.”

“Do you want to head back?” Wade looked around. “I don’t see the plant, and it’s getting late.”

“I thought you needed to find the plant.”

“We’ve been walking for an hour.” Wade said. “I don’t want to delay too long.”

“Let’s look a little longer.” Molly said. “What’re we looking for, though?”

“Melonberry. We need roots.”

“Doesn’t it grow near water?”

“Most commonly.”

“So it should be around.”

“Hypothetically, yes.”

The two searched the area for another ten or fifteen minutes before Molly found a single small melonberry plant. A minute after that, Wade had roots in hand, and they headed back to camp.

Well, they tried.

As it turns out, navigating an unfamiliar forest in the dark is enough to get anyone lost.

And then Wade stopped, and tilted his head, and looked to the left.

Molly held still, completely silent, in case it was trouble.

“There’s a spell there.” Wade murmured. “A big one.”

“What?” Was he serious?

Wade took a few steps, then reached out and touched something. “Oh. It’s a border spell.”

Molly frowned, peering into the darkness. “There’s nothing there.”

Wade’s hand grabbed hers, and she blinked in surprise. Surprise that was only deepened when he moved her hand against invisible nothing.

Then she gasped, looking around in awe.

The second her hand had touched the invisible nothing, a wall of color exploded across her vision. Shimmering lights of red and purple shot high into the air, arcing over their heads.

“It’s a dome.” Wade’s voice was very close to Molly’s ear, she noticed. Wade, in general, was very close to her.

“Why is that important?” Molly looked at Wade. He was flooded in the red and purple light. Eerie, but intriguing.

“It encloses the entire camp.” Wade said. “This is a wall built to keep us in.” He frowned. “I wonder...” He shook his head. “Let’s get back to Gar.”

He dropped his hands, and the colorful arc disappeared, leaving Molly to feel strangely surrounded by darkness.

“I wonder how he got hurt.” 

Wade seemed to be talking to himself, but Molly answered anyways.

“Last time this happened, it was another demon trying to get Gar to do something. Tell stuff, I think.”

A long moment of horrified silence.

“They tortured him?” Wade’s voice nearly cracked.

“I don’t know. What counts as torture?”

A warm billow blew across them, once again bringing the unmistakable tang of rain.

“You know what, let’s just get back. We can talk about that later.” Molly shook her head.

The two hurried (headed directly  _ away _ from the wall). By now, Molly’s feet had a painful ache about them. Her boots had worn thin over the last three months, so she could feel every rock and twig underfoot. Although her left foot, the one still soggy from the stream, was feeling strange. Not as strange as what had happened at the wall, though.

“What did you do at the wall?” Molly suddenly asked.

“You saw it?”

“Why else would I have kept my hand there?” Molly demanded.

Wade was silent, but then the faint swirls in his palm appeared as he looked at his hand.

“Well, okay. How do we get rid of those?”

“I don’t know.” Wade admitted. “I’ve never heard of this happening before.”

“Well, Dlive thinks it means soulmates.”

Wade sighed. “Molly --”

“JP talked to me. You’ve got to marry someone with nobility magic.” Molly nodded. “I know.” Then an idea hit her. “But what if we could fake it? Just long enough to trick whatever spell caused this?”

“I’m sure whatever spell caused this will realize faking it doesn’t work.” Wade said dryly. “There probably has to be actual interest.”

“Well,” Molly didn’t stop to think how Wade might react to what she was saying, “you’re nice, and you think you’re funny. I’m interested.”

Wade’s eyes widened, and as he went to answer, a big raindrop went  _ splat _ right on Molly’s face. Several thousand raindrops followed in a matter of seconds.

Wade took off, saying something about needing to hurry for Gar and fires and rain.

As Molly followed, she couldn’t help but wonder if she’d gone too far too fast.

After all, if Wade ended up liking her back, and they went ahead with a relationship, he could easily be kicked out of being Lord of the Realm. 

And what person would give up their rank?


	14. Meanwhile, at the Fortress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's take a look at how things are going at the fortress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the second shorter chapter.

“I felt him!” Pat exclaimed once again. “For like a minute, I felt him! Wade’s alive!”

“You’re going to wear a hole in the rug.” Marie said simply. A very long hole that looked an awfully lot like Pat’s pacing.

“He’s alive!” With this particular exclamation, Pat dropped into one of the chairs.

“So far.” Bob said. “He’s only been gone for 24 hours.”

Pat gave Bob a sour look. “Don’t say that.”

“What do you mean, you ‘felt’ him?” Bob crossed his arms.

Pat let out a sigh. “When I became Wade’s guard, we got a spell put on us. It makes it so I can use his healing magic to heal him, and, if I concentrate, I can know where he is and his exact mood and physical condition.”

“So where is he?”

Pat shrugged helplessly. “I couldn’t feel the connection for long enough. It’s the first time I’ve even sensed him since last night.”

“Have you slept since last night?” Mandy, Bob’s wife, spoke.

Marie shook her head. “Not in our room, at least.”

“I looked for Wade.” Pat admitted. “I was able to track him to a small, secluded bay before I stopped sensing him.” Pat slouched in the chair. “Which is really weird, let me tell you. I’ve been able to sense him almost every day, even every second, until last night.” Pat groaned. “And now I can’t. Some guard I am.”

“Whose room is this?” Mandy asked curiously.

“Wade’s. I figured he wouldn’t mind, given the circumstances.” Pat put his head in his hands.

“Is there a maximum distance for the spell?” Bob asked curiously.

“I don’t know. It’s been almost a decade since Wade and I were more than a mile or two apart.”

“Get some sleep.” Mandy said. “Both of you.” She looked at Bob as well. “I know you were in the search party for the Heir.”

Bob sighed. “Alright, dear.”

“What are you going to do?” Pat asked.

“I’m going to help your wife figure out how to run a Realm without a noble.” 

“We need the protection spells.”

“Well, if Lord Barnes is indeed alive, then he can and likely will take care of that all on his own.” Mandy crossed her arms. “Now sleep. We’ll wake you for any news.”

“I’m going to use Wade’s bed.” Pat stood. “Maybe it’ll help me sense him again.”

\----

Marie and Mandy planned for quite some time before they moved the conversation to Wade’s office. Then they continued planning.

Marie figured out how to pay for a fully staffed fortress. Not that it was necessary, because not many people wanted to work in the fortress right then, but it was set up for when it would be needed.

Mandy, on the other hand, began figuring out how handle repairing the fortress wall. The process looked to involve a lot of math.

Mandy looked up every now and then, and Marie was frowning more and more frequently.

“Can we solve what’s making you frown?”

“We have a deadline to get our nobility back. The royal wedding. It’s in five months. And it takes a month to travel.”

“We have four months to find them? How are we supposed to do that?”

“I don’t know.” Marie shook her head. “It gets worse, too. Dignitaries from the nearby countries are going to be visiting soon, and are planning on travelling to the wedding with Wade.”

“Do we know who?”

Marie shook her head. “Likely members of the royal households, since both the Land of the Squirrels and Bossatron have more than one prince or princess, but I’m not sure which ones.”

“Would they help look for Lord Barnes?”

“I don’t know.”

By now, early morning light was streaming through the window, and Marie yawned. “I need to go take a nap.”

“I’ll be here, working on this.” Mandy gestured to the pile of papers Wade had left. “Trying to figure out how to make everything work out.”

Marie just nodded and walked off.

Mandy didn’t really know what she was doing, with regards to experience, but she was going to give this her best shot.

After a little while, she decided to take a break, and went for a walk in the gardens. She probably shouldn’t have felt safe there, considering it was where Lord Barnes had been taken, but she did, and it was relaxing.

When she circled around to the front entrance, she saw someone arguing with the guards at the gate. 

Of course, she investigated. She didn’t get so close that she would be in danger, but she was close enough to be able to hear.

“I’m telling you, I have to talk to Lord Barnes!” A young woman’s voice exclaimed. “He’s going to need to know about this.”

Mandy paused. It was probably best to keep Lord Barnes’ disappearance as quiet as possible for as long as possible.

“I can take him a message.” Mandy said, taking a step forward. And by that, she meant she was going to take the message to Marie and Pat and Bob, and the four of them could work through it together.

The young woman frowned. “I need to see him.”

“That’s not possible right now.” Mandy said.

“Wake him up.”

Mandy just put her hands on her hips.

“Fine.” The young woman shook her head. “Let him know that a merchant’s wagon train was raided by demons.”


	15. Healing Gar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wade and Molly patch up Gar, and JP makes a decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's gonna be more blood in this one, guys, so I'm just warning you now. 
> 
> (I keep putting an archive tag on and then taking it off, but there hasn't actually been any violence seen yet, so I'm reluctant. So I guess consider this your warning.)

Water was still falling heavily from the sky by the time Molly caught up to Wade at camp.

Wade was already crouched next to Bluemoon, and JP was huddled next to the fire, working with Entoan to keep the fire going in the downpour. Dlive just looked grouchy.

“What happened to our shelter?” Dlive grumbled.

“You burned it down.” Molly rolled her eyes.

“Oh yeah. We should build a new one.”

“How much more hot water do you need, Wade?” JP asked.

“I don’t know.” Wade didn’t even glance up.

Molly walked over to Wade. “How can I help?”

“Can you wrap his wounds as I treat them?” Wade held out a bundle of makeshift bandages.

Molly nodded. “They’re gashes. Shouldn’t you stitch everything back together or something?”

“Yep.” Wade grimaced. “Entoan is getting that ready. Hopefully it works, since the best he could find was an old sewing kit.”

“It was made for leather, though, so it’s got a nice big needle.” Entoan called over his shoulder.

“Gross.”

“It’s going to be, yes.”

Molly just watched him work for a minute, as he cleaned the wounds and put some kind of salve or something on them. He seemed to know what he was doing. She hadn’t expected a noble to be able to heal someone without magic. But here Wade was, defying expectations.

“It’s ready.” Entoan said. “At least, as ready as I can get it.”

Wade nodded. “Best to do it now, while he’s unconscious.”

“He’s unconscious?” JP asked. “Oh. I talked to him a lot, but I guess it didn’t work.”

“He passed out when I started cleaning the gashes.”

Molly, at this point, had seen enough of these wounds to last for a lifetime. 

“They’re bleeding again.” Molly frowned, watching Bluemoon’s wounds.

It was gross.

“Not surprising.” Wade barely glanced away from threading the huge needle Entoan had handed to him. “They’re open wounds.” Wade tied off a knot at the end of the thick thread. “This is going to hurt. Sorry.” With that, he put a hand on Bluemoon’s shoulder, above the first gash. He was bracing himself.

“Should we hold him down or something?” Dlive asked. “I think he’s going to jerk around. I would, if I got stuck with that thing.”

“I’ll help.” JP walked over.

“Be careful.”

JP sat in the mud next to Gar and hugged him. “I got you.”

At JP’s words, Gar lifted his head slightly and opened one eye to look at what Wade was getting ready to do. A tiny whine sounded, as if from a puppy.

“This is going to be unpleasant for all of us.” Wade warned, making a face.

“If you need to throw up after, I won’t judge you.” JP volunteered. 

Molly glanced at the wounds again.

“If this gets worse, I might join you.” JP added.

Bluemoon’s other eye opened as he tried to look at the teen hugging him.

“I’ll move first.” JP patted Bluemoon on the head.

“You’re not even looking at it.” Wade complained. “Much less touching it.”

Bluemoon glanced at Wade, as if to say ‘get it over with already’.

“Alright, I’m starting.”

The second Wade started stitching up Bluemoon, the demon flinched, causing JP to grunt. “Ow.”

Each stitch pulled muscle and skin together, and blood began dripping from the points where the needle entered and exited from Bluemoon’s leg. Arm? If he was human, it would have been an arm. But he was a wolf. So...leg?

Molly glanced away for a second. It hadn’t occurred to her that stitching injuries together would create tiny wounds with string being pulled through them. Of course there was more blood.

Good thing the demon hadn’t been bleeding quickly while she and Wade had collected plants, or Bluemoon would probably be dead by now.

A dead demon being something most people would celebrate. But no, not this group. For goodness sake, JP was  _ hugging _ the demon. Such naivety. Such innocence.

“First one is done.” Wade said.

Molly looked up. The job wasn’t pretty. Bluemoon would probably scar. But he would likely survive the night.

“As soon as I get halfway through this second one, start bandaging him.”

Molly nodded. Now she was going to have to touch a demon. Hadn’t she heard something about that at one point? That touching a demon was inviting it to attack you?

Well, both Wade and JP were currently touching Bluemoon, and the giant furball hadn’t done anything to even so much as struggle.

Then Wade was nodding at her, so Molly began bandaging the stitched up wounds. Around the leg, then around again, making sure the bandage was snug and that there was a slight overlap in the wrapping layers so if things shifted, nothing of the wound would come uncovered.

Wade finished before Molly; not exactly surprising, considering he’d started first and didn’t have to stop regularly to tie off bandages.

Dlive and Entoan weren’t the best bandage makers. But they’d managed, so it was good enough.

When Molly finished and looked up, Wade was nowhere to be seen. JP was asleep against Bluemoon, and Bluemoon seemed to be asleep himself. Dlive was huddled next to the fire, and Entoan seemed to be kicking loose dirt over the majority of the blood on the ground.

Then Wade was at the edge of the firelight, looking rather pale.

“Feel better?” Dlive asked.

Wade just sat down on the other side of JP. “Let’s just get some sleep.”

“In pouring rain? How?”

“JP managed.” Wade looked over at Bluemoon. 

“By cuddling?” Dlive raised his eyebrows.

“I’m sure he just fell asleep due to being warm.” Entoan said.

“We can be closer to the fire for sure.” Molly said as she evaluated the distance between the sleeping spots and the fire. “But in the morning, we need to start rebuilding a shelter.”

“Assuming the demons don’t want us to do anything.” Dlive grumbled.

“Just go to sleep.” Wade stretched, then laid down, not seeming to care that he was in the middle of a giant mud puddle.

Molly followed suit, and eventually fell asleep to the soft crackle of the fire in the rain.

\--------

Wade woke when all the air wooshed out of his lungs and a weight landed on him.

“Sorry.” JP said as Wade opened his eyes, and the weight moved. “Gar moved and I fell over.”

Wade blinked, trying to take in the light. There wasn’t a lot of it. Dawn was still happening.

“How is he?” Wade yawned. Only a few hours of sleep. Lovely.

“Well, he got up and walked -- limped, really -- towards the forest. And he grinned at me.”

“Sounds like he’ll be okay, then.”

“I’m hoping the grin means he likes me and not that he’s planning on eating me.” JP frowned.

“You’re nice, JP. Who wouldn’t like you?”

“There was a guy in my neighborhood where I lived as a kid that always yelled at me.”

“Most people like you.” Wade corrected. “Don’t worry about it too much.”

JP smiled. Then hesitated with a tiny frown on his face. “Wade?”

“Yes?”

“I did thinking last night. And if you and Molly decide to try things out, it’s okay. And if you decide to, I dunno, get married or something, that’s okay too.”

“I’d be forced to retire.” Wade just looked at JP. What was the kid thinking?

“Yeah, but if you’re happy, that’s okay. I’ll take over.” JP met Wade’s gaze. “It wouldn’t be easy, but I’d do it. I’ll get Bob to advise. And you. And Marie.”

“JP, you don’t need to --”

“Just think about it, okay? Decide if you’re even interested in her. Then talk to me again.” JP held up his hands. “Just think on it.”

Wade nodded, smiling at the teen. “Alright. I’ll think about it.”


	16. Author Notice

School's starting, and with everything going on, I'm going to drop the chapter uploads to once a week, on Sundays (meaning the next one will also be Sunday). This is for the sake of the story's quality and my own sanity. Thank you for your patience. 


	17. Merchant Gossip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wade and Molly go to the dump, and a merchant from the raided wagon train shows up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter summaries are hard, friends. Very hard.

Gar returned as the humans were eating breakfast. He was limping, but seemed almost cheerful despite his injuries.

“Hi!” JP waved at Gar. “Feel better?”

Gar nodded, giving a happy tail wag.

“Be careful.” Wade said. “You don’t want to rip out the stitches.”

In response, Gar laid down, watching the camp with clear interest in his eyes.

“Is this what life here is like?” Wade asked the other adults.

“Usually, we’re busy just trying to survive.” Entoan replied.

“Hey, catch!” JP called, and Wade ducked just in time to avoid getting hit by a chunk of rabbit meat from breakfast.

Gar, on the other hand, caught it in his mouth nearly effortlessly.

For once in his life, JP had made a good toss. 

“Woo!” JP threw his hands into the air.

Dlive stretched. “I’m going to go for a bit of a walk. Stretch my legs.”

“I’m gonna go back to sleep after breakfast.” Entoan countered.

“Have fun with that.”

“I will.”

“Try and find good wood we can use to build the shelter.” Molly said.

“Alright.” Dlive stood and walked off.

“How do we make a shelter?” JP asked. “I’ve never done it before.”

“Well, if we can make or find tools, that would help. Axes and saws most of all.” Molly looked over at the teen. “It kinda depends on what we find.”

“Oh.” JP said. “What will we find?”

Molly paused, just looking at the teen. “JP.”

“What?” JP lifted his hands in a display of innocence.

Molly just rolled her eyes before turning to Wade. “You ever built anything before?”

“I built treehouses with my younger brother, but never without tools or adult supervision.” It had taken multiple tries, too, because nobody knew what they were doing, really.

“But you are an adult.” JP protested.

“I haven’t always been. I used to be a small Wade.”

“Aww.”

“Would we go to the dump to find tools?” Wade turned to Molly for the answer.

“Supposedly, but whatever was originally there has probably long been taken for use by someone else.” Molly shrugged. “But we might be able to find stuff to make our own tools.”

“We should go do that, then.”

“I’ll stay here with JPar.” Entoan said casually. “Keep an eye on him. Make sure no demons eat him.”

“I’m okay with that.” JP agreed. “And we have a fuzzy protector, too.” He gestured to Gar.

“Good. If he’s awake, I can take a nap.” Entoan smiled.

“Be ready to help when we get back.” Molly warned, standing before she walked off, leaving Wade to follow after.

Molly led Wade through the multitude of people, weaving around the individual camp sites. She didn’t look happy to be doing this, but Wade could see why. 

A lot of the camps were in bad shape. Clearly, some had been attacked by demons. Some were sick. Some were dead inside, wearing the expression of lost hope on their faces. Some were scarred and mutilated, seemingly having survived being attacked by demons.

Fortunately, Wade didn’t see any children. Teens, yes, he saw those, but nobody younger than fifteen or sixteen. Which, while it still wasn’t good that they were here, was better than children being here.

Molly didn’t talk at all as they walked, and she actually seemed scared, something that came as a surprise to Wade. He’d only known her for really not all that long, but she didn’t seem like someone who got scared very often.

On the other hand, the demons here seemed considerably more demonic than Gar did, as if they were taking pleasure in the pain and suffering and numbness of the humans around them.

Something told Wade he needed to make sure to perform the protection spell more often while he was here, to help keep the demons’ influence from spreading. Not that he knew if he was supposed to do it more than once a month. And that was at a minimum.

But how was he supposed to do it without the demons noticing? The protection spell was certainly strong magic, and Wade seemed to remember something about demons being able to sense that sort of thing.

Maybe Gar could help answer that question. Because if they could sense it, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop that, or dilute it to seem like normal magic, then Wade needed to get out of here within a month. 

But he didn’t want to leave all these people here.

...But he had to perform the protection spell, or the whole Realm would be at risk.

This was hard.

If it came down to it, could Wade get far enough in that tunnel Gar had shown him to get under the wall, then perform the spell, then get back before he was noticed missing?

Could he even get under the wall?

He couldn’t get through it when he and Molly found it earlier. What kind of power would it take to break a spell like that? Certainly a lot. More than Wade had available to him.

“Oh, look who it is. Bluemoon’s human toys.” The words were growled, and the owner of the voice was behind Wade, so he couldn’t see who it was. Another demon, probably.

Molly grabbed Wade’s hand, holding it tightly, but remained silent.

“Are they trying to ... run away?”

“We’re simply fulfilling one of his requests.” Wade said cooly, ignoring the implied threat that seemed to come with ‘run away’. “And we’re expected back. I’m sure if we don’t show up on time, that he’ll know exactly who is to blame.”

A growly grumble. “Hurry along, then. Don’t want to upset any demons now, do we.”

Molly darted away at an alarming speed, pulling Wade after her so quickly he almost fell flat on his face. But he managed to keep his balance, and not embarrass himself in front of Molly and demons.

He was rather proud of that.

Another soft grumble got Wade’s attention, but no demons were approaching him and Molly.

No, wait, that was a rumble, not a grumble. A glance up proved the clouds from the night before were once again growing dark and thick and overall stormy.

“We should hurry.” Wade glanced at the incoming storm once more as he spoke.

“We might be a while scrounging.” Molly warned.

“The sooner we get there, the sooner we can leave.”

Molly nodded, picking up the speed at which she was walking.

Wade could tell when they got close to the dump. The air itself seemed to be filled with the grief of death and the sorrow of loss, resonating with memories of owners and events long past and the moments that led to the ending of life. Echoes of laughter and tears and moments of peace and the first sparks of attraction and the empty weight of despair. Ripples of anger, rage, hatred, and the faintest glimmer of hope riding on those ripples like a reflection. Whispers of lives ended by accident, by protecting a loved one, from illness, from being eaten while still aware, by the hands of someone seeking revenge in the wrong places.

“This place creeps me out.” Molly’s voice jerked Wade out of the foreign emotions. “I keep feeling like someone else is there, but no one ever is.”

So she felt the foreign emotions, too. At least, she could tell they were there. Although, from the sound of it, she’d been able to for a while. And this was only the second time Wade had ever felt something like this.

The first being while performing the protection spell.

Did that mean something? Was it natural for some people and Wade was unable to do so until becoming Lord of the Realm? Did it mean something else? Or entirely nothing?

“Well,” Wade said (even though there had been a lengthy silence hanging between them by that point), “I’m here this time. Anything scary pops up, we’ll handle it together.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Molly agreed.

At that point, Wade could tell they were at the dump. Random belongings were strewn about in unorganized piles, piles that had clearly been added to and rummaged through and taken from time after time after time.

Most of it was clothes. A few pieces of jewelry. Scraps of personality hinting at past lives. Nothing incredibly useful stood out, however.

“Let’s hurry.” Molly let go of Wade’s hand and started rummaging. “Pull out anything that might be useful.”

Wade moved to a different pile and began rummaging himself. “What happened to the bodies?” Did he really want to know?

“After someone dies, you have two minutes to clear them of belongings. Otherwise they get eaten with the body.” Molly was audibly grimacing. “We’ve managed to save a few from that fate. They’re buried outside camp.” A pause. “Bluemoon -- Gar -- does it for us.”

“So not very many at all.”

“Three, if you want to be exact.” Molly sighed. “I wish it could be more.”

Wade’s fingers found cool wire under some slimy something, and he pulled it out to see a coiled bracelet. That could maybe be used to wrap something, hold two things together.

The two were silent after that, searching as quickly and as thoroughly as possible, and leaving their minds free to wander.

Wade’s wandered to Molly.

JP had offered to take care of the Realm, so Wade could pursue a relationship with her if he wanted. The sparks swirling under the skin of their palms seemed to indicate some sort of connection or fate, but there was no telling what that shared fate really was. Maybe they were both going to die here.

Or maybe it meant a relationship fate.

That one, at least, was easy enough to test out. If the sparks didn’t go away, that wasn’t the answer.

But...

The last time Wade had been in a relationship, it hadn’t ended well. In fact, it had ended very badly.

He didn’t want to go through that pain again. It had been hard enough the first time. 

Not that he expected Molly to do something like that. Although he hadn’t been expecting it the first time, either.

No, for now he and Molly would become friends and stay that way. Once he knew her better, he’d reevaluate.

When rain finally started falling, Wade and Molly grabbed the few useful things they’d gotten and hurried back to camp. Thankfully, no demons bothered them this time.

At camp, they found a stranger trying to talk to Dlive and Entoan, who were ignoring the stranger in favor of laying out pieces of wood on the ground, probably for the shelter. JP was cooking at the fire, and Gar had his gaze firmly fixed on the stranger.

“See! There are others!” The stranger gestured wildly at Wade and Molly. “The Heir to the Realm doesn’t need to be cooking.” The stranger turned to JP. “Please, Heir, leave that task to someone of a more lowly class. Like the bearded man.”

A soft cough came from Entoan, and when Wade glanced at him, Entoan was covering his mouth and closing his eyes and clearly trying not to laugh.

JP didn’t even look at the man. “Go away, Derf.”

“That’s Merchant Derf, Heir.” Derf corrected.

Gar growled, and Derf froze, then ran off.

“Thanks, Gar.” JP said.

Gar gave a wag of his tail and put his head back on his paws.

Entoan’s laughter became audible as he stopped trying to be quiet. “Did he really think Wade’s of a common class?”

“Did he really correct JP?” Dlive laughed himself.

“Don’t give JP a big head.” Molly rolled her eyes, and the two men slowly stopped laughing.

“We got stuff to make tools.” Wade said. “It’s not a lot, but it should help.”

“And I found a shovel.” Molly added. “So we can dig our foundations more easily.” 

“Great. I found lots of sticks.” Dlive said.

All the humans (except JP, who was still cooking their meal) worked on getting the rough frame of their shelter standing and holding together without falling.

Wade turned to pick up another stick and came face to face with another stranger. A girl, this time, no older than JP.

“I heard the Heir is in this camp.” she whispered. “Merchant Derf found him.” The girl grinned. “He’s telling everyone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my nana for giving me the name for the merchant. :)


	18. Only a Matter of Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this isn't a Sunday, but I finished a chapter, so I'm gonna share it. Hopefully, I'll be able to finish another chapter for Sunday, but if not, it'll be Monday. Thanks!

Wade hadn't slept in almost two and a half days by the time JP managed to convince everyone to leave the “Camp of the Heir” alone and let people rest.

“No you may NOT cuddle the demon, no matter how soft he looks, thank you very much, bye.” JP’s voice once again broke through Wade's consciousness.

Molly groaned. “Sleep.”

The two were laying under the partially constructed shelter so as to be out of the way of all the visitors. And while they hadn't been stepped on, they hadn't gotten to sleep, either. There was simply too much noise.

“Go away.” JP said firmly, authoritatively even, to the unseen visitor. “I want to sleep.”

To be fair, JP hadn't gotten much sleep, either, with all the visitors.

And while many were confused as to why JP wasn't wearing an outfit with Havendal’s symbol on it, they seemed to think it was JP’s symbol.

Though, honestly, JP would probably have a pineapple.

Then a sigh, and JP’s form spread out on the side of Wade where Molly was not. 

“Sleep.”

Molly made some noise of agreement.

Dlive and Entoan could take watch, make sure nobody would try to do anything to JP. They'd gotten more sleep than Wade and Molly had, after all.

\----------

When Wade woke up, it was because he was uncomfortably warm.

This was in part because JP’s arm was across Wade, and the teen was almost cuddling.

Wade carefully disengaged himself, dropping JP’s arm back on JP.

And elbowed someone else directly on his other side.

“Ow.” Molly murmured, stirring. “Anything wrong?”

“No, I'm just moving.” Wade responded. “Go back to sleep.”

Molly rolled over and fell silent again.

Wade out a hand behind his head and stared at the sky. After all, there wasn't a roof on the shelter. Just a frame. (Though they had managed to somewhat complete two of the walls.)

The sky was very dark still. Only one moon was giving any light, and it was hidden behind a stay cloud from the rainstorm that had finally ended earlier that day.

But the sky was beautiful. Stars speckled across the deep blue of night, creating watery shimmers and seeming to echo all the wishes ever made to them.

Something told Wade that the next time the sun set was when he needed to perform the protection spells.

Wade paused and counted. Huh. That would make it almost exactly a week since the last time he performed the spells. Did he really have to perform the spells that often? Or was this a special circumstance because of the demons hanging around?

That seemed most likely.

Wait. Who had told him this in the first place? It certainly hadn't been Havendal’s letter.

Something told Wade to shut up and stop questioning the random thoughts that didn't originate in Wade's head.

Well, alright then. When Wade got up in the morning, he would ask Gar if the demons would sense the protection spells settling.

With that thought in mind, Wade closed his eyes and drifted to sleep once again.

\----------

Wade woke up to swearing. Quite a bit of it, in fact.

There were other words, if course. Just not enough to make it clear what Dlive and Entoan were so upset about.

Entoan walked up to Wade and said (essentially) “The head demons found out about JP and they want him.”

“That's awful and all, but what do you want me to do about it?” Wade sat up.

“I don't know, but we've got to do something. Last time one of us refused to comply with a direct order, someone died and Gar got hurt.”

“We'll figure this out.” Wade yawned. “Just let me wake up.”

Entoan nodded nervously.

JP yawned next to Wade and sat up. “Gar’s already hurt. Would they hurt him more?”

“I've seen demons due at each other's hands. Claws. Whatever.” Entoan replied. “They have no problems murdering each other.”

“Oh. I don't want Gar getting dead. “

A long moment of silence. Then Molly signed, and Wade jumped. He hadn't noticed she'd woken up.

“We might have a bargaining tool.” Molly sighed.

“Molly!” Dlive shouted from just barely outside the shelter. “No!”

“Might not have a choice.”

Entoan just stared at Molly in pure horror.

“What's going on?” JP asked. “Did I miss something?”

“When Molly first got here, the demons wanted her to make things for them.” Dlive explained. “It's why they took her originally.”

“I've managed to keep out of it so far, but it's the only thing they want as much as JP.” A pause. “Maybe.” Molly pulled her hair into a bun.

“That's awful!” JP exclaimed.

“Could be worse. They could get you.”

“How is that worse?”

“Well, you're the Heir. Presumably, the ruler of this Realm gave you instructions on how to perform the protection spells.” That was Gar’s human voice. “They want that.”

Everyone turned to see Gar standing behind Dlive, holding his left shoulder with a grimace.

He'd had better not have messed up his wound.

“They need nobility magic. Without it, they'll be significantly slowed down.”

“So Molly has to go?” JP asked like he wasn't at all surprised at Gar’s human form like everyone else.

“She might, but I'd rather avoid it.”

Gar glanced around, then his form shimmered, and he was in his demon form once more.

A bellow excited through camp, shaking the shelter frame.

“BLUEMOON! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL YOU HAVE THE HEIR TO THE REALM!”

Gar's eats laid flat on his head, and he growled slightly.

Entoan yelped and ducked behind Gar’s wing.

Dlive sat, completely silent.

Molly scowled, but she too kept her mouth shut.

JP looked at Wade, and mouthed “why are they so scared?”

Wade's only response was to shrug helplessly. How was he supposed to know?

Although a fair answer might be that any rational person would be afraid of demons, and Dlive, Entoan, and Molly were fairly rational people. Wade, even, felt some of the same fear, though he had no idea what was in store for them and the other adults seemed to have a pretty good idea.

Evidently, JP wasn't a fairly rational person.

Considering he'd fallen asleep on a demon, the fact wasn't all that surprising.

Wade went back to looking at the other adults, and then he understood what was causing their fear. Striding towards them was an enormous demon, probably fifteen feet tall, with dark horns curling out away from a skull that looked entirely like a cadaver a few hours into the medical school near the palace in Minion. In fact, all of this demon looked like that. 

And “that” meant this demon had no skin. Human musculature and stuff, but no skin. Instead, just redness and blood vessels and arteries and tendons and eyeballs and teeth and everything blatantly exposed to the air.

And it was disgusting.

“WHICH ONE IS THE HEIR!” The disgusting demon bellowed again.

Gar growled again.

“THAT'S NOT AN ANSWER.” The disgusting demon bellowed.

Wade was assuming the demon was always going to below at this point, and he was correct.

JP, wisely, was staying sitting, where the demon couldn't see the symbol on his shirt. 

Really, Wade should have picked up a spare shirt for JP when he and Molly had gone to the dump to help protect JP’s anonymity. But he hadn't thought of it at the time, and he hadn't thought of it until now, so it was a bit late.

Although, had he thought if it just a minute before, he could have given JP his shirt to cover up his lordly symbol and just gone shirtless. It wouldn't have been pleasant, but it would have been better than Molly facing working for demons to avoid JP getting taken by them.

Really, the best thing would be if Wade could figure out how to get people out of here, so they didn't have to worry about it anymore. Although Wade still had to figure out how to get rid of the demons altogether.

Of course, Wade had to deal with this particular demon first.

“EVERYONE KNOWS YOU HAVE THE HEIR, BLUEMOON. IF YOU ONCE AGAIN DEFY ORDERS, YOU MUST BE PUNISHED.” The disgusting demon shook its head. “YOU HAVE TWO ORDERS YOU HAVE YET TO FULFILL. THREE, REALLY, BUT ONE OF THE HUMANS IS DEAD AND SO YOU CANNOT FULFILL THAT PARTICULAR ORDER. “

Gar just growled.

The disgusting demon shook its head once again. “VERY WELL. YOU HAVE CHOSEN.” It lifted its hand as if to strike Gar. Oddly enough, Gar didn't seem like he was going to fight back.

Molly stood. “Wait.”

The demon paused and looked at Molly, silent and letting her speak.

“One of the orders he has to fulfill is having me smith for you, correct?”

The disgusting demon smiled, a rather macabre stretching of muscles and revealing of peculiarly white and straight teeth, and nodded.

Molly sighed. “I want to be able to sleep here, to make sure these idiots don't die from something stupid.”

The demon nodded. “VERY WELL.” He turned to Gar. “IT SEEMS THAT YOUR HUMAN TOY HAS SAVED YOU TODAY. HOWEVER, I STILL EXPECT YOU TO GIVE UP THE HEIR.” The demon turned to Molly, and gestured for her to follow.

Molly got to her feet, threw a terrified look at Wade, and followed the disgusting demon as it walked off.

Before he really had time to think about what he was doing, Wade stood and dated over to her.

“I don't know how late it will be when you get back, but make sure I know you got back safe.”

Molly gave Wade a grateful look. “I will. Thanks for looking out for me.”

Wade nodded, then Molly was gone to the increasingly busy camp and he was left feeling worried for her safety and sanity.

And that her sacrifice wouldn't really hold off the demons and that it was only a matter of time before they would come back for JP.


	19. Secrets, Spells, and Pondering

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wade performs the protection spells, JP accidentally keeps a secret, and Wade and Molly go on a walk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In regards to chapter posting, I will say least get out a chapter every Sunday, and may write more if I have time/motivation to do so.

Wade was so worried about Molly that he almost forgot to ask Gar if the demons would sense the protection spells settling or not.

In fact, it was nearly time for the evening meal by the time Wade remembered to ask.

While JP complained about only having two meals a day (to which Entoan replied that JP was welcome to go hunting if he wanted more food), Wade managed to pull Gar aside and ask.

Gar, as it turned out, didn't want to turn into his human form, for some reason, so Wade had to try and guess his way through the conversation.

“So can they sense when great magic like that is performed?” Wade asked.

Gar gave a shrug, then nodded.

“Can they identify from where?”

Gar shrugged, then shook his head.

“Will I be safe if I perform the protection spells?“

Gar sat there for a minute, then nodded.

Wade gave a sigh of relief. Good. Now he just had to do it. Without alerting anyone to the fact that Wade was a lord and the one performing the protection spells. If there was this much of an uproar over JP being the Heir, then there would be even more of one over Wade being the one who actually used the nobility magic rather than just having it.

And who knew if people would choose to blame him for not getting rid of the demons. After a year and a half, at least, of demons somehow being in the human world, people would start blaming someone.

Well, on the plus side, he had lots of time to think about ways to fix all the complaints sitting on his desk at the fortress.

Although, Marie was probably working on that pile at this very moment.

And Part would be desperately trying to find Wade. But with the border spell surrounding the camp, Pat wouldn't be having any luck.

Wade felt a distinct pang of homesickness as he thought about his friends. Sure, JP was here, but it wasn't quite the same.

Wade sighed, sitting next to Entoan, but didn't actually say anything.

“She'll be back.” Entoan said reassuringly.

Wade looked at him. “Oh. I wasn't thinking about Molly.”

“Why not?”

“I have other things I have to worry about as well.” Wade shrugged. “Though I probably should be worrying about her more.”

Entoan glanced around, then dropped his voice a bit in volume, practically ensuring that nobody just walking by would be able to hear him speak. “How is it being a lord?”

“Stressful. On the best days, I just have to worry about the safety and well-being of an entire Realm. On worse days, I have to worry about demons.” Wade paused. “So far, everything has pretty much been a worse day.”

“Yeah, well, demons will do that to you.” Entoan agreed.

Wade nodded. Then paused once again, before dropping his own voice's volume. “I have to perform protection spells tonight. Chances are, it'll knock me out for the better part of a day. Can you make sure Molly gets in safe tonight?”

Entoan nodded casually. “I will be a valiant knight for your lady.”

Dlive must have heard that, because he laughed. “You're no knight.”

Entoan rolled his eyes as JP frowned.

“Wait, what were you guys before you got brought here.” JP looked between Entoan and Dlive.

“Sailors.” Entoan said. “Got to see the world, but we were both from here originally.”

“It's why we're so salty.” Dlive added.

Entoan rolled his eyes.

“Was it fun?”

“There's nothing fun about hard labor on something that might fall apart at any moment and leave you to drown.” Dlive leaned back on his arms.

“Couldn't you swim?”

Entoan shook his head. “It doesn't provide a lot of benefits when you'd drown long before reaching shore anyways.”

“Oh.”

Entoan turned to Wade once again. “Don't worry. I'll stay up to wait for Molly. Do your thing.”

Wade nodded gratefully and moved over to the shelter frame, where he sat cross-legged.

“Oh boy.” Wade heard JP mutter. “Hope you don't have problems this time.”

Wade found himself agreeing to that sentiment. Pat wasn't here this time to keep Wade from coughing if that event happened again. And none of these people here would be able to help. Hopefully, it wouldn't happen at all.

Well, if worst came to worst, and Wade was incapacitated by this somehow, JP could perform the spells at least once before everything became hopeless.

No, he needed to stop thinking like that. He'd get through this fine, even if it wiped him out for a day and a half again. He just needed to protect the Realm.

With that thought in mind, Wade closed his eyes and very, very quietly whispered the opening phrase.

\---------

Molly hadn't been expecting the fire to still be going when she finally got back from the demon forges, sore and both mentally and physically exhausted. But here it was, small flames licking at a single log.

And Entoan was sitting next to it, looking cold and expectant.

For some reason, she was expecting everything to be different. Some warm feeling had settled over her near the end of her shift. It seemed so out of place that she wondered if she should ask Gar about it.

Entoan looked up as she got close, and an audible sigh of relief escaped him. “Good. You're back. I was starting to worry you weren't going to make it.” He handed get a bowl with cold stew in it. “Here's leftovers from supper.”

Molly gratefully took it, eating as quickly as she could without causing herself problems.

“Is Wade asleep? I promised to let him know when I got in.” Molly looked up from her food at the shelter and the sleeping forms under it.

“He's been out for hours.” Entoan shook his head and spoke quietly. “Had to perform the protection spells after we finished eating. I didn't realize it took so much out of the nobles.”

Molly raised an eyebrow. “Think he'll wake up if I tried?”

Entoan shook his head. “He didn't wake up when our friendly demon sniffed him, so I think he's about as firmly asleep as you can get.”

Molly sighed. “Alright. Then I'll just go to sleep and talk to him in the morning. If i get the chance before the demons come get me for the forges.” She shuddered. She still wasn't sure what they wanted her to make for them, as this first day had been largely learning where everything was and the rules for coming and going, but she was sure it wasn't good.

Entoan nodded and began working on putting it the fire. Molly finished eating and put the bowl in the pot full of water to keep it from getting crusty. Someone would have to wash everything early in the morning, but that was tomorrow.

Now, Molly needed sleep. So that's what she did, laying out next to Wade. This way, if he woke up during the night, he would find her safe.

\------

Molly woke before Wade did the next morning, feeling like she hadn't really gotten to rest at all.

“Ugh.” JP’s voice said from the other side of Wade. “I forgot Wade was still gonna be asleep.”

Molly looked over at him curiously.

JP shrugged. “Usually Wade's up before I am. But not today.”

“You knew he was performing the spells?”

JP nodded. “Well, I felt it settle. Didn't take a detective to figure it out.”

“You felt it settle? What does that mean?”

JP shrugged. “I dunno. I felt the spell settle down on the Realm and me. It was kinda powerful, but peaceful.”

Molly blinked. “Does it feel warm?”

JP gave Molly a long look. “Yes. How did you know that?”

Molly sat back. “I think I felt it settle least night, then.”

JP’s eyes widened. “You shouldn't have. I mean, unless you've got a magic sensing part of your magic. You have magic, right?”

Molly nodded. “I've got magic, but I don't have any magic sensing capabilities.”

JP made a thoughtful face. “Huh. Interesting."

“Why?”

“Stop talking.” Dlive grumbled from where he was sleeping a few feet away.

JP shook his head. “I need to talk to Wade before I can answer you, and I don't know how long it will be before he wakes up. He slept for a day and a half last time he did this.”

Molly raised an eyebrow. Well then. Entoan hadn't been kidding about the protection spells taking a lot out of Wade.

“You haven't shut up.” Dlive spoke before Molly could respond to JP.

JP rolled his eyes and mimed locking his mouth shut and throwing away the key.

\-------

Molly didn't see Wade awake until she got back from her shift at the forges the day after that conversation with JP. Even then, Wade seemed tired.

Well, so was she. They could be tired together.

She found herself and Wade leaning against each other a bit as they ate and listened to the others talk and joke. While she'd participated in the past, she didn't feel like she has the energy for it right now.

Molly suddenly woke, not even sure when she'd fallen asleep.

“Sorry.” Wade said. “I didn't mean to wake you.”

It was at this point that Molly realized she was pinning Wade. Had she fallen asleep on him?

“Do you need to move?” Molly pushed herself into a sitting position. How she managed to arrive to that conclusion while still half asleep, she didn't know.

A long pause.

“Actually...” Wade paused again, almost like he was hesitating. “Since we're both awake, I was wondering if you wanted to go on a walk together.”

That woke Molly up. “Why?”

“I figure if you're still interested in me, then we could spend some time talking.”

Molly rolled her eyes. “I was hoping you'd return the sentiment.”

Another pause.

“I do.” The words were quiet. “At least, I think I do.”

Molly found herself letting out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding.

“Then let's go on a walk.” Molly rolled to a kneeling position and then stood, as Wade did the same.

The two walked for a while, talking and getting a feel for each other.

There was potential. Certainly potential.

\-------

Molly wasn't surprised when she woke up with just enough time to grab the food Wade offered her and run to get to her shift on time.

After all, she and Wade hadn't gotten back to camp until a few hours before dawn. Even though she'd fallen back asleep almost instantly, she was sure she was going to have problems getting through the day.

Wade shared the sentiment. He had a long day of building the shelter ahead of him, and he had to teach JP all the ways one could use great magic. Including being able to control it.

At that thought, Wade hesitated, then revised the statement. One could never really control great magic. Just guide it and hope that it didn't fight back.

Something seemed to point out how rarely that happened.

Wade shook his head. Great magic usually cooperated. But ever since he'd been bound to the magic of the Realm and the Realm itself, the Something that kept telling Wade things seemed more and more alive, almost like that Something was the Realm itself.

Something told him he was correct.

Wade froze, causing Entoan to ask if everything was okay.

“I... I need a break.” Wade quickly moved to the side of the camp and sat down, thinking.

The Realm was talking to him?

_‘Yes.’_


	20. Dignitaries

Marie wasn’t sure if Pat was more annoyed by how little they’d gotten to see each other in the month and a half since Wade and JP had been kidnapped, or by the fact that he couldn’t find either of the nobles. (At the least, they knew Wade was alive. The Realm was functioning, so he must have performed the protection spells.)

For the exact moment, though, Marie knew exactly what was causing Pat the most stress. It had been stressing her, too. 

Today was the day the dignitaries from the neighboring kingdoms were supposed to arrive. Well, today or tomorrow.

And there was no Lord of the Seventh Realm to welcome them and be a gracious host.

By now, all of Septimal knew Wade was missing. Most of the Realm knew. About half of them even knew JP was missing. And everyone who talked to Marie or Pat or Bob or Mandy about it had learned that the two nobles had been kidnapped -- JP by the demons that had kidnapped so many of the others, and Wade by some strange figure that Marie herself had never actually gotten to see.

What Marie didn’t know was if news had reached the First Realm by now, or even Primus itself. Did the arriving representatives know? If they did, were they going to offer help searching? Were they even going to visit at all?

The only way to find out was to wait.

While waiting, Marie went ahead and took care of a few things -- she made Bob Captain of the Fortress Guard (and since there was currently no captain of the city guard, he was in control of that as well), and moved Mandy to being JP’s tutor for when he got back. 

If he got back.

Bob seemed a good amount of nervous with handling the responsibility of Captain of the Guard, so Marie wasn’t too worried about that. An unexpected benefit of it was, the day it was announced to Septimal, the fortress garrison and city guard flooded with possible recruits. Bob had had to put aside the day from searching for JP to check out the newbies, and was currently sorting through a mass of paperwork for hiring some of them and assigning them to patrols and shifts and whatever else needed to be done with that.

It couldn’t have been easy, especially for the Fortress Guard. Pat had set very strict rules for who could be around Wade and JP as a regular guard. This whole kidnapped-nobility thing was  _ not  _ going to happen again.

Since JP wasn’t around to tutor, Mandy was running intelligence in the city, trying to find any and all info on just about everything that could prove useful. Earlier that day, Mandy had informed Marie about someone who might be useful to have on staff -- a woman named Day, with the ability to make people see things that didn’t actually exist.

Marie had to sit and think about that one.

\---------

The traveling company for the Bossatron representative was heard before it was seen. This was in part because people were excited about visitors from another country, and in part because the Bossatronians had recently begun developing something merchants described as “magic-fueled machines” and that was sure to  attract attention (and be noisy, maybe).

Most peculiarly, though, was how Sean “Jack” McLoughlin, Prince of Bossatron, showed up at Marie’s -- Wade’s -- office, alone and unannounced.

“What’s this I hear about Wadey going missing?”

Marie stood and curtsied.

“No need for that.” Jack frowned. “Do we have any idea where he is?”

Marie shook her head. “If we knew, he wouldn’t be missing.” 

Jack conceded the point with a nod. “Well, I’ll help ya look. You’ve got me and three of my guards wherever you need us.”

Marie unburied the search map on Wade’s desk. “This is where we’ve already searched.” She pointed as she spoke. “It’s slow going, though, since we’re still in the city.”

“I don’t think people’d like me me and my guards coming and looking through their houses.” Jack looked at the map, and his green hair flopped into his face. He swore and shoved it back. “Here. I’ll search the coast. Lots of hiding places in the mountain beaches.”

Marie nodded, writing “Jack” on the sectors he’d indicated.

Jack sighed, then looked at Marie. “Alright, Stewardess Marie. I’ll get my people settled, then get started on that searching.”

“I can’t give you a search warrant.” Marie warned. “I was never authorized for that, and Wade’s not here to help.” She tapped the table. “So be careful.”

“Can’t just use Wade’s seal?” Jack raised his eyebrows.

She shook her head. “Considering he didn’t have one made before he got kidnapped, no.”

“He was stolen away?” Jack looked at the map once more. “I just heard he’d gone missing.” He made a face. “You might want to get dogs, then. Sniff around the uninhabited parts.”

The implication was clear -- check for a body.

“Lord Barnes is alive.” Marie said firmly. “He’s been performing the protection spells.”

Jack paused, then nodded. “I can feel them in the air. Almost two weeks old.” He  _ hmm _ -ed. “But Wade’s Heir -- who I don’t think I’ve had the opportunity to meet -- he was stolen by demons?”

Marie nodded.

Jack stood there for a minute, looking thoughtful. Then he shook his head. “Still get dogs. Either one of them could have been casting the spells.”

“JP didn’t know how.”

Jack shrugged. “That doesn’t make much of a difference. If the magic of a land wants a certain spell cast, it’ll tell someone how to cast it.” He sighed. “Though with the spells being a fortnight old, they could both be dead by now.”

“You’re not helping me be optimistic about this.”

“By no means is it a coincidence that both Lord Wade and your new Heir -- JP? -- were kidnapped.” Jack rubbed his face. “I’ll be in touch with your Captain of the Guard to coordinate everything.” 

With those words, Jack turned and left Wade’s office.

\-----------

“Shouldn’t we have been throwing a welcome feast or something?” Mandy asked during the usual evening meeting, this time in Wade’s chambers.

“Normally, absolutely.” Pat didn’t look up from the search map he’d taken from the office and spread out on a table he’d gotten somewhere. “But we need nobility to do that.”

“Do we know who’s coming from the Land of the Squirrels?” Bob asked.

“Probably one of the Fischbach men.” Marie said. “But whether it’ll be the older brother or the younger, I have no idea.”

“I’m surprised we haven’t heard any rumors about it from mountain villages.”

“Why would we?” Mandy tapped the Indigo Mountains on the map. “Unless they have an urgent need, people don’t make the trip down here.” She paused. “With that in mind, we need to check the mountains. Who knows what information we’re missing.”

“Someone could hide for years and never be found.” Pat protested.

“That’s probably the idea.” Bob agreed.

Mandy was already shaking her head. “Everyone leaves a trail of some kind. It’s just a matter of finding it.”

Pat frowned. “What I don’t understand is why Wade would be taken and no ransom issued.”

“What I don’t understand is how Wade was taken in the first place.” A new voice joined the conversation, followed by a  _ “borf” _ .

Mandy looked over to see a man with dyed red hair and a golden dog standing in the doorway.

“Mark.” Pat protested. “Don’t any of you royals know how to knock?”

“One of my best friends is missing.” Mark said flatly. “I’m not going to bother.”

Mandy looked at Mark more closely this time, and couldn’t help but notice the small box charm he wore as a necklace and that there was a squirrel’s head sticking out of an inner pocket of his heavy cloak.

“Is it already so cold in the mountains you needed the cloak, or is it just dramatic?” Bob asked.

The Squirr King looked over at Bob and gave him an appraising look. “You don’t seem like a knight.”

“I’m not a knight. I’m the Captain of the Guard.” Bob shook his head. “Lord Barnes doesn’t have any knights.”

“Sure he does.” Mark walked into the room. “Chica, sit.” (The dog sat.) “Technically, he holds the title himself. He has the training. But, really, you think the personal guard of a prince would be anything less than a knight?” Mark casually gestured to Pat. “There’s one right there.”

In the ensuing silence as Bob and Mandy took a good, long look at Pat, Mark turned to Marie and Pat and bowed slightly. “Stewardess Marie, Sir Static, I assume you know at least some details of Lord Barnes’ kidnapping?”

Pat quickly reported the details, and Mark stroked his chin. 

“Did you get a good look at who or what took him?”

“At first, the abductor seemed to be a man.” Pat replied. “But after I took a hit from the rock that got thrown, I could have sworn it was a beast -- a wolf of some kind.”

“I didn’t see it at all.” Marie apologized.

“The abductor changed?” Mark reached into his cloak and pulled out the squirrel. “Hey, General Squeak, I need you and your troops to search the mountains for any signs of werewolves, shapeshifters, or demons. Then bring the info back to me.”

General Squeak squeaked, then jumped out of Mark’s hands and scurried over Wade’s room before disappearing out the open window.

Mark clapped his hands. “Now, while my General is out looking for that, let’s get some rest. Staying up late isn’t going to anyone any good.”


	21. Reading Lessons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> JP teaches Entoan and Dlive to read; Wade speaks with the magic of the Realm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter includes serious injuries and treating those injuries. Be aware if you need to be.
> 
> Also, it's been a month and a half (in story) since the last time we had a chapter with Wade and party. It's the same month and a half as in the last chapter with Pat and friends. Basically, it's been a month and a half since Wade and JP got taken to the demon camp.

A month and a half.

That’s how long Wade and JP had been in the demon camp. That’s how long Molly had been smithing for the demons. That’s how long Wade had taught JP methods to control great magic, to try and keep him undiscovered.

That’s how long Wade had been ignoring that the magic of the Realm had actually spoken to him.

By now, the shelter was complete. There was even enough room for Gar to sleep at the single open edge if he so wanted.

Most mornings, Wade woke up with Gar squishing him into the shelter a little. He wasn’t really ever cold, though, despite frost forming whenever people breathed.

Of course, Wade did sleep in an enclosed space with four other adult-sized people and a demon. That was enough to keep anyone warm.

By now, Wade had settled into a routine with the others. Entoan and JP would cook breakfast, then Gar would escort Molly to the forges. JP would sit in the shelter and practice controlling his great magic. Wade and Dlive would either go collect wood or go to the dump and scavenge. Entoan would check to see if the shelter needed any patching.

Then JP would teach Entaon and Dlive how to read before working on whatever lessons Wade tried to teach after cooking the evening meal.

“Is this what a formal education feels like?” Dlive asked.

JP scratched his head. “I think so. I mean, I’ve only been able to learn from Wade for two years, so I don’t really have a ton of experience with it.”

“It took you two years to learn how to read?”

JP shook his head. “In the last two years, I’ve learned how to read, write, do basic arithmetic, do court manners, ride on and take care of a horse, and how to stab someone with my dagger without hurting myself.” JP looked over at Wade. “He either taught me himself or arranged for me to be taught.”

“You get to start on algebra later.” Wade didn’t look up from the two rabbits he was cooking.

“I don’t like the sound of that.”

“Can you show us how to write our names?” Entoan asked. “I think we can identify most of the letters now.”

JP nodded and picked up his stick before writing five names in the dirt. “Guess who is who.”

Entoan pointed to the first one. “This only has two letters. The second one is a P. So this is your name.”

JP nodded. “The first letter is a J.” He tapped the second name with his stick. “Who’s is this?”

Dlive was already staring at it. “Four letters. An A and an E. Wade.”

“Yes?” Wade looked up this time.

“Oh, just reading your name.” 

Wade nodded and went back to what he’d been doing.

“This one’s mine.” Dlive pointed to one of the sets. “Dlive.”

JP threw his hands in the air as a method of celebration.

“Two of the same letter in a row. This must be Molly.” Entoan pointed at a name before looking at the only remaining one. “E-N-T-O-A-N.” He smiled. “I have the longest name.”

“Well, my full name is longer.” JP said. “But yes.”

“Does Molly know how to read?” Dlive asked.

“She might.” JP looked at Wade for confirmation.

“I have no idea.” Wade glanced over.

“I’ll ask when she gets back.”

“Or we can just test her.” Wade said. “See if she can read enough to react to something.”

“What would we write?”

Wade walked over and wrote in the dirt, then stood and went back to the fire before gesturing for JP to follow.

While the two spoke quietly, Entoan and Dlive tried to work out what had been written. The mark at the end meant it was a question. Molly’s name began it, and Wade’s was after the question mark.

Do and you.

Want to go.

On a walk?

“Is that supposed to be romantic?” Dlive asked critically.

“It doesn’t look like it. But what do I know about how nobility date?”

Dlive shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

\------

When Molly arrived back at camp, she was leaning heavily on Gar.

Wade was first to notice, and jumped up before rushing over to her.

Gently, he touched her shoulders and pulled her away from Gar, only to make JP scream and Entoan blanched.

Molly’s entire right arm was burned -- melted, almost -- and bleeding profusely. Molly herself barely seemed conscious.

“Dlive, do we have enough bandages?”

Dlive rolled to his feet and ran to the small supply of medical supplies.

Molly had a hard time moving, so Wade took a more direct approach -- he scooped up Molly and carried her to the shelter.

Entoan, not wanting to just sit on the ground next to Wade’s unread message, got up and joined Wade next to Molly. Well, he did until JP half-hid behind, half-hugged Entoan and buried his face into Entoan’s shoulder.

“I don’t want to look.” JP murmured.

“Can’t you just wave your hand and heal her?” Entoan asked desperately.

Wade shook his head. “Something this serious will take several healing sessions, and I’ll have to rest between them.”

“Then start.” Dlive knelt next to Wade, holding their bag of supplies.

Wade’s shoulders dropped. “I can’t. Not tonight. I’m not willing to make JP do the spells.”

“It’s only been a fortnight.” Dlive argued. “They can wait.”

“No. They’re already dangerously faded. I think the demons have deliberately been wearing them down.”

Gar padded over and stared worriedly at Molly, who was moving even less now that she was (still) in Wade’s arms.

“I don’t want to just put her down. It’ll be a lot harder to treat her arm that way.”

Gar sat and looked at Wade expectantly.

Wade nodded, then leaned Molly on Gar. “Dlive, you’ll need to hold her down so I can clean the burn.”

JP whimpered and pressed himself farther into Entoan’s shoulder. Entoan turned and put his arm over JP, covering his ears.

Even so, JP flinched when Molly screamed while Wade cleaned and bandaged her burns.

“None of the burns go too deep.” Wade’s voice was shaking as much as his hands. “It might take a while, but I should be able to completely heal her.”

“You’ve got to recover from the spells, though.” Entoan murmured, keeping his hands over JP’s ears.

Wade nodded.

“Then do them.” Dlive spoke grimly. “I want Molly better.”

“Me too.” Wade sighed. “Me too.”

JP mumbled something about words before pulling away from Entoan and walking over to and kicking loose dirt over what Wade had written.

“How long will you be out this time?” Dlive watched JP. “I don’t think Molly could hang on for a day and a half without at least some healing.”

“Are they going to expect her back at the forges tomorrow?” Entoan asked.

Gar nodded.

Wade frowned. “I won’t let myself fall asleep afterwards this time. I’ll heal her as much as I can.”

So he sat right next to Molly and silently began to protection spells.

An hour later, he was struggling to pull Molly’s arm away from her unconscious self and begin healing it.

Molly conscious. That was Wade’s goal.

He knew he was close to overextending himself; dangerously close, actually. Recovering from this massive use of magical energy was going to take days of nothing but rest.

Which was difficult under the circumstances.

Still, Wade pushed on. Even though his whole body was sluggish.

Only a few minutes had passed before exhaustion overtook him and everything faded.

\----

“Why’d you let him push himself so far?” Molly’s voice was weak, but somehow it still penetrated Wade’s consciousness. Or lack of it, as the case may be.

She was awake. Good.

“You would have died otherwise.” Dlive retorted.

“Wade almost died!  _ Is  _ almost dead!”

Molly’s voice was really quite close. She must have been right next to him.

Why hadn’t she noticed Wade was awake?

_ ‘Because you’re not awake.’ _ The voice of the magic of the land spoke softly.  _ ‘You can hear them, but you’re not awake.’ _

Oh.

“Wait, so why and how are you talking to me?” Wade asked.

_ ‘We were bound to each other.’ _ The magic reminded.  _ ‘That spell is what allows for this interaction.’ _

“Why didn’t Havendal warn me?”

_ ‘I haven’t spoken to one of the nobles bound to me since the original -- Lady Turnell.’ _

Oh again.

“Then why are you talking to me?”

_ ‘In part, necessity. In part, you remind me of Lady Turnell.’ _

“Necessity?”

_ ‘Demons. All but one have ill intent towards the Realm. They must be stopped.’ _

“How am I supposed to do that? I’m kinda stuck here, with the border spell and all.”

_ ‘Break the border spell. Slay the demons. Though I suppose you can keep the friendly one alive. He means no harm.’ _

“I can’t break border spells. Otherwise I would have already.” Wade felt like the magic should know this already.

_ ‘If you can cause the blood of three royals to simultaneously touch it, then I can do the rest through whomever is most suitable for the task.’ _

“We don’t have royals.”

_ ‘Members of the royal households of the neighboring kingdoms have arrived in the Realm. I’ve been observing them.’ _

“But how do they find the spell to break it?”

_ ‘Your bond with your guard should function correctly if you can push enough magic through the border spell. But do not overextend yourself again.’ _

Like he had done to get himself here in the first place.

_ ‘Rest. We may eventually speak again.’ _

Then calm washed over Wade.


	22. Communication Spell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is out late. I was gonna type it up Saturday and got completely distracted by Wade and Molly getting engaged (and then went ahead and rearranged my room over the weekend).

Wade was hungry.

He hadn’t even opened his eyes yet, and he was hungry.

Whether this was because he hadn’t eaten in who-knew-how-long or because he could smell something cooking, he didn’t know.

He was also surprisingly warm. Usually at a meal, he was chilly (if not downright cold).

Wade opened his eyes to see his breath freezing into a small cloud.

Okay, so everything around him was cold. Why wasn’t he?

Wade turned his head to look around and nearly bumped Molly’s head with his own.

Molly stirred and opened her eyes, but didn’t pull away from Wade. “Hey. How do you feel?”

Wade paused. “Hungry, mostly.”

“Is Wade awake?” Entoan gasped. Then Entoan was crouching on the other side of Molly. “Hey! You are!” He grinned.

“Hi. How long was I out?”

“Four days.” Entoan knelt.

“Four very nervous days.” Molly slowly sat up, grimacing. “Have we found anything for a sling?”

Wade glanced at her arm and winced. It was still bandaged, and the bandage itself was bloody and dirty.

“Dlive and JP haven’t gotten back yet.” Entoan replied. “But they should come back with something.” He hesitated. “The cold’s had a lot of people dropping stuff off at the dump.”

Wade sat up, ignoring his muscles screaming at him to just not move. Was it really that cold so soon? It was still fall.

Then he looked outside.

Snow was gently falling.

“We didn’t want to leave you without someone keeping you warm.” Molly said. “We didn’t want you freezing to death.”

“Appreciate it.” Wade stared at the snow once more. “How long has it been snowing?”

“Almost a whole day straight.” Entoan replied.

Something near the fire popped loudly, and Molly moved as if to investigate.

“No.” Entoan put his hand on her shoulder. “You rest. We don't want a repeat of earlier today.”

Molly sighed and remained sitting. Entoan got up instead.

As much as Wade wanted to know what had happened, Molly didn’t look like she wanted to talk about it. So he asked something else.

“Where’s Gar?”

“Hunting. Winter is going to be hard enough, so he handles the hunting.” Entoan called from the fire. “It took Dlive and I way too much effort last year.”

“That’s right. You two lived through last winter. How was it?” Molly asked.

“Very cold. A lot fewer people were here. Maybe half of us survived.”

There was a long moment of silence.

Wade realized Molly was looking at him.

“Yeah?” Wade asked.

“Are you okay?”

Wade pondered the question for a moment before shaking his head. “Not really.”

Molly frowned and shifted as if to move.

“You’d better not be getting up -- either of you.” Entoan warned from where he was tending the food.

“We’re not.” Molly called back. Then she turned back to Wade. “You pushed yourself really far.”

Wade nodded. “Yes.”

“That was stupid of you.”

Wade nodded. “Yes.”

“Why did you heal me when you had just done the spells?”

“You were going to die.”

“ _ You _ almost died.”

Wade shrugged. “But I didn’t. And neither did you. I’d say this is a pretty good result.”

“You just slept for four days.” Molly started making a gesture, but stopped with a grimace of pain.

“Here.” Wade gestured to her arm. “Let me heal you.”

“No.” Molly pulled her arm away. “I don’t want you passing out again.”

Wade shook his head. “If you insist.”

Entoan walked back over to them and sat before looking at both Wade and Molly.

“Hi.” Wade said.

Entoan smiled. “Hi. If I asked you if you were healing her, would you lie to me?”

“Why would I lie to you?”

“Because none of us have really been able to shave or bathe or anything since we got here and we’re all hideous and scary and you have no self-confidence.” Entoan crossed his arms.

“Molly’s not hideous. She never could be.”

Molly just looked at Wade. “If you keep saying things like that, I might think you’re seriously interested in me.”

Wade paused. “Let’s talk about that after food.”

“It’ll be another hour and a half.” Entoan replied.

“We can talk now.” Molly said. “We could go for a walk.”

Wade nodded, and the two of them moved to get up.

“No,” Entoan pushed both of them down. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“Entoan.” Wade complained.

“I’ll leave you alone. But no walks.”

Molly groaned.

Entoan laughed. “Don’t get too comfy. I don't want to walk back here and accidentally interrupt you.”

Molly rolled her eyes, and Entoan walked back to the fire.

“I thought you couldn’t be interested in me.” Molly looked at Wade.

Wade scratched the back of his head. “Technically, no. But I am.”

“You’ll lose your rank.”

Wade shrugged. “There’s no guarantee we’d even get far enough to make that a concern. We might try things for a while and decide against it.”

Molly conceded the point with a nod. “This is true. I’m guessing, since you’re a noble, you have to follow a specific set of rules for this?”

“Well, nobles call it courtship, and yes.” Wade sighed. “The rules are called ‘Courtship Ceremonies.’ The actual ceremony parts we won’t be doing. They require religious officials.”

“Do demons count?”

Wade blinked. “I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it.” 

“Would it hurt to ask Gar?”

Wade had to think about that for a minute.

“People do worship demons.” Entoan said from the fire.

“Stop listening!” Molly called back.

“This is adorable. Why would I?”

“Entoan!” Wade groaned.

Entoan laughed.

“Anyway, I think Gar could do it.” Wade turned back to Molly. “But we should ask him to see if he’s okay with it.”

Molly nodded. “What’s first in the list of those rules and ceremonies?”

“Casting a spell together.” WAde frowned. “I don’t know how we would do that though. These rules are made with both people having great magic as the norm.”

“As the rule, I thought.”

Wade smiled at Molly. “Well, not us.”

Molly smiled back. “What spells could we cast together?”

Wade shrugged, then paused. “Have you ever been involved with a communication spell?”

“No. Metal magic, remember?” Molly frowned. “How do you do one of those. You have healing magic.”

“Believe it or not, you should probably be able to do some other magic, not just stuff with metal.”

“Really?”

“Most can. Not as well as you can do specific magic, and it takes more effort, but it’s possible.”

“If you can teach me, I’d be okay with it. But who are we talking to? Each other?” Molly frowned. “Or could we talk to someone outside the camp?”

“Maybe.”

“Won’t that take a lot of energy? To push through that wall?”

“There would be two of us.”

Molly debated for a moment. “Alright. How soon would we do this? Would it start the ceremony things?”

“It’ll officially start the Ceremonies, so we can do it when you want to make us official.”

“Can you handle it if we did it now?”

Wade paused. “Only if we contact Pat.” Wait, Molly didn’t know who Pat was. “My guard.”

“The one bound to you?”

Wade nodded. “It’ll be easiest.”

“Okay.” Molly grabbed Wade’s hand. “Let’s go while Entoan is distracted.”

Wade nodded, and the two quietly got up and snuck out of the shelter.

(Not that they would know it, but Entoan gave a panicked yelp when he turned around and found them gone.)

Once out of Entoan’s sight, the two walked slowly. Anything faster would have just worn them out, and they needed to be at the maximum level of energy to push a spell through the border.

Finding the border spell, though, was difficult. Almost a full hour and a half passed before Wade could sense it.

The two had been talking, of course, and Molly had learned the next few steps in the Ceremonies. Fortunately, none of the tasks or ceremonies had to be completed in a certain order or time limit (except for the one designated as the final one, which was engagement). This meant Molly could actually work on one of them now -- specifically the one where they had to make something for each other using their magic.

And Molly could most definitely work with that, since she was in the forges.

Although, she was currently on errand duty. No way could she make anything with her arm like this.

Wade shifted next to her.

“Are you nervous?” Molly asked.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve tried to go through the Ceremonies.” Wade admitted.

“Well, hopefully it’ll be the last.”

Wade smiled at her, but didn’t say anything.

“We can take this as slowly as you need to.” Molly assured. “We’re not in any hurry.”

Wade nodded. “Appreciate it.” He paused and changed course. “We’re almost there.”

“How are we doing the spell?”

“Carefully. Very carefully.”

“Wade.”

Wade chuckled, then began explaining how the spell worked in the first place, and how it would work with the two of them.

“That’s weird.” Molly raised her eyebrows.

“Yes.” Wade stopped moving. “We’re here.”

“Lovely.”

“Shall we begin?” Wade offered his hand.

Molly took it and stepped up to join him at the border spell. “I wonder how Pat will handle meeting me like this.”


	23. Signal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pat gets to talk to Wade and this new person -- Molly.

Jack and Mark joined the group for their nightly meeting. This meant when Wade and Molly finally managed to push the communication spell through the border spell and contact Pat, Jack and Mark were also able to witness Pat yelp in surprise before getting very excited.

“Is he okay?” An unfamiliar woman’s voice reached Pat’s ears.

“Why is Pat so excited?” Jack asked.

“Wade!” Pat exclaimed.

“Hi.” Wade said simply. “I see you knew it was me before I said anything.”

“Why didn’t you contact me sooner?”

“Had to get help pushing through a border spell.”

“You’re welcome,” the woman added.

“Molly, I’ll thank you later.”

“Who’s Molly?” Pat asked.

“Me,” the woman replied. “I’ve been told you were looking for me.”

“Listen, Pat,” Wade interrupted, “we can’t keep this up for very long. I’m out with the missing people. We’re being held by a whole bunch of demons.”

“Told you they were here.” Pat rolled his eyes (causing Jack and Mark to just exchange a worried look).

“Patrck.” Wade complained.

“Don’t PATronize me.”

“We’re in the mountains somewhere.” Molly said.

Pat paused, focusing on his connection with Wade. He could feel it now. “Kinda near the ocean, I think.”

“That explains why it’s so cold.”

“Are you safe?”

“No.” Wade was starting to sound strained. “But JP is with us.”

“Alright. We’ll start looking. I’m sure Mark and Jack would be happy to help.”

“Great. Anything I need to know?”

“Nothing urgent enough to risk you wearing yourself out too much.” Pat replied. “Stay alive. We’ll find you and get you out.”

“Then I’m ending the spell.” 

With those words, Pat’s stomach lurched and he was left feeling so very alone.

“So, how’s Wade?” Marie asked. “At least, I assume he was talking to you.”

Pat nodded, shakily taking a seat. He’d forgotten those spells took energy out of him, too. “He’s alive. With JP. And the missing people. And demons.”

“Do you know where he is?” Mark scratched Chica between the ears.

“In the mountains, by the ocean. That’s as close as I could figure.”

“That’s still a lot of ground to cover.” Jack mused.

“What was that about demons?” Bob asked.

“He and JP and the missing people are being held captive by them. Sounded like they were trapped by a border spell.”

“How do we take care of demons?” Jack asked.

“Lord Patrick of the Sixth Realm,” Mandy said, “has a large collection of books. Maybe he would know.”

“He’s certainly a scholar.” Pat sighed. “But that means telling people outside the Realm.”

“Oh, rumors have already probably gotten as far as the Third Realm.” Mark said. “So setting the record straight is probably a good idea.”

Pat nodded. “Can I talk to him? He’s a fellow Pat.”

“Unless you want to travel for two weeks and a day to reach his capital and then wait a little while to even get in to see him, you’d have to write him.” Marie pointed out.

Pat swore.

“I could write him.” 

Pat paused, clearly thinking. Then he shook his head. “No. There’s no way we’ll be able to think of all the information he’ll need in one letter. It’ll be better for someone to travel and talk in person.”

“You can leave first thing in the morning.” Bob said. “But can you show us the general area of where Wade is?”

Pat stood and pulled over the map. “One of these.” He pointed to the three closest mountains.

“That’s good. I’ll have General Squeak narrow his search.” Mark looked at the map.

“Who’s Molly?” Jack asked.

“What? Oh, the woman who helped Wade push the communication spell through the border spell.”

“Border spell? We’ll have to break that before we can get to Wade, then, and that’ll take some effort.”

Mark nodded in agreement.

“How would we break it?” Pat sat back down.

“Didn’t you learn that while you were in knight training?” Mark played with his tiny box pendant.

“I only got the physical and about half the strategical training.” Pat said. “It’s all I needed for the job.”

“So no.” Mark dipped his head for a minute, clearly in thought.

“Border spells are some of the most powerful spells in existence.” Jack explained. “It took two people just for a minute-long conversation spell, and Wade and Molly are probably both exhausted from it.”

“They are made to be impenetrable walls.” Mark explained.

“Right. T’ give you some idea, the protection spells this kingdom needs for some weird reason are pretty powerful. They can stop demons. And they can be done in two-ish hours, if that, by one person. But border spells,” Jack exhaled hard, “they can take a week to put up properly.”

“How do you take one down?” Bob asked.

“If it’s one you put up, you just take it down.” Jack shrugged. “If it’s someone else’s, though, you have to break it. You need a lot of magical power.”’

“A hundred and sixty mages -- who would all die -- or three people with royal blood -- who wouldn’t die if they did it right.” Mark said grimly. “Blood magic.”

The room went quiet.

“I thought that was forbidden.” Mandy said.

“Well, that depends on the kingdom.” Jack said. “But it’s not considered a smart course of action anywhere you go.”

“That’s because if you do it wrong, you bleed to death.” Mark said.

Chica  _ boof _ ed and wagged her tail.

“The problem with this instance is it requires royal blood for it.” Jack said. “We’ve got two here,” he gestured to himself and Mark, “but where are we supposed to get a third? Especially since it’d take too long to get to the First Realm and enlist someone.”

“Isn’t the youngest prince due back in the country some time soon?” Mark asked. “I thought he was ambassador-ing overseas.”

“Yes.” Pat said.

“This is the biggest port city in the kingdom. He’ll come here when he gets back.” Marie said. “But we don’t know when that’ll be. Anywhere from two to three months.”

Jack shook his head. “That’s too long.”

“I thought you had to have nobility magic for royal blood to count.” Bob said.

Jack nodded.

“Then Ambassador Barnes won’t work.” Bob shook his head. “He’s one of the people who are born noble, but don’t have the nobility magic to stay that way.”

Mark raised an eyebrow. “You’re serious.”

Bob nodded. 

Jack shook his head. “There’s a one in a four thousand chance for that to happen, and it happened to him.”


	24. Reckless Protection

Wade didn’t realize he’d overextended himself yet again until he woke up feeling like he’d been hit by a horse. One that had been on fire when it hit him.

And there was a paw on him, keeping him from moving.

“Gar.”

The paw shifted slightly, but the demon didn’t take it off Wade, instead giving Wade a rather judgemental look.

“Gar, why?”

“Why?” Dlive’s voice was scathing. “You almost died -- AGAIN -- and you’re asking why he won’t let you up? You and Molly snuck off and didn’t return and had to be brought back unconscious by Gar, and you’re asking why? You’ve been unconscious for a week, and you’re asking why? JP and Molly have barely left your side, and you’re asking why? Entoan searched for you two until he collapsed because his feet were bloody and raw and JP -- of all people -- had to bring him back to camp, _and you’re asking why?_ ”

Wade closed his eyes and groaned. “I’m sorry.”

“You’d better be.” Dlive crossing his arms was practically audible.

“Wade?” JP asked softly. “The spells...”

The spells?

Oh. 

The protection spells were almost completely faded.

There was also no way Wade was in any condition to be able to perform them.

“I don’t want to do it.” JP sounded about ready to cry. “But I don’t have a choice, do I?”

Wade shook his head and opened his eyes. “I’ll do it, JP.”

“You’ll  _ die _ . And then I’ll have to do it next time and the time after that and every time.”

Wade sighed. “Can I talk to JP alone? I won’t go anywhere.”

A long silence.

“As long as you don’t mind Entoan sleeping here.” Dlive said. “And I’ll be watching you.”

“That’s fine.”

Another long silence, then Gar’s paw moved off Wade and Dlive walked away, followed by Gar.

“You can’t do it.” JP instantly protested. “You can’t even sit up right now. How in the world would you perform the spells?”

“You don’t have enough experience to be able to do this without watching me several times.” Wade argued.

“I have watched you. And I know the spells. I just haven’t done them yet.”

“You don’t have experience using great magic.”

“You didn’t have a bunch of experience, not with performing the spells, when you started.” JP pointed out.

“Well --”

“You’re also missing the single most important part of this all.” JP crossed his arms. “Which is  _ you’ll die _ if you perform the spells and Molly will be  _ very _ upset with me. I don’t want Molly upset with me.”

“That is pretty bad.” Wade admitted.

“Don’t even continue. That’s very bad.” JP held up his hands. “I’m actually not even going to give you a choice here. I’m just letting you know that as soon as you fall back asleep that I’m gonna perform the spells. And you are in no condition to stop me.”

“JP --”

“No.”

“JP --”

“Go to sleep.”

“I’m not going to go to sleep knowing you’re going to perform the spells.”

“You’ll be asleep eventually. I can wait. It won’t be longer than a few hours.”

Wade frowned.

JP crossed his arms again.

“I don’t know what I walked into, but it looks intense.” Molly sounded tired.

Wade tried to push himself up to look at her, but failed.

“No, stay, I’m coming down to you.” Molly sat next to Wade, then sort of crashed onto him.

“Still working?” Wade asked, putting an arm around her. She was cold and wet, probably from the snow falling outside.

“Still running errands for everyone else there.” Molly agreed. “Maybe when you feel better you can heal my arm more.”

“Of course.”

“Is food ready?”

“Just about.” Dlive said.

“Think we'll get to see the sun set while we eat tonight?” JP asked.

“Maybe a little, but it's not late enough in the year for that.”

“Except we're in the mountains and days are weird.” Molly pointed out.

“I  _ was _ here last year. I know how this works.” The sound of Dlive serving food sounded, and then Dlive was walking over to them. “More importantly, the clouds are covering everything.”

“I'll wake Entoan.” JP volunteered.

“I'm hoping that since Wade is awake, he can feed himself.” Dlive grabbed Wade by the arm and hauled him into a sitting position. “Molly, do you want to help him stay up?”

Molly nodded and sat so Wade could lean on her (though she was leaning on him, too) before taking the bowl Dlive offered and placing it on her lap so she could start eating.

“Entoan's got a bad fever.” JP said. “He's waking up, but I don't know how long he'll be able to stay awake.”

Dlive sighed. “We'll do what we can.” 

“I could --” Wade started to suggest.

“Not until you're recovered. Or we don't have any other choice.” Dlive shook his head. “Either way, not today.”

Wade sighed. “Fine.”

“Here.” Dlive handed Wade a bowl. “Go ahead and eat. I'll help JP with Entoan.”

Gar sat and watched them for a minute before turning his attention to the demon camp surrounding them.

Gar's camp was so much different than the ones run by all the other demons that it was sometimes easy to forget how much the other people here suffered.

“How many people have died since I last checked?” Wade asked.

“Six.” Dlive answered.

“Eight.” JP corrected. “Two more people talked to me about it this morning.”

“They knew who you were? I would have thought people would have forgotten by now.”

“It's hard to forget Derf and his gossiping ways. Pretty sure the demons know, too, and are just waiting for something. I mean, at least a few knew right off the bat.”

Wade bit his lip. “They're probably for you to perform the protection spells.”

“Can they sense that sort of thing?”

Gar shook his head. Then he hesitated and glanced around before suddenly being human. “They can't sense who is performing the spells, but they can tell after someone does magic -- it leaves a residue of sorts. Until now, I've been able to convince them the reason Wade glows with that residue is because he does so much healing, but your lights have never done more than make you shimmer. They'll be able to tell you did powerful magic.” 

“How long does it take to stop glowing?”

Gar shrugged. “I don't know. Wade never has. You might not ever either. Or maybe you will because you're not healing people with magic.”

JP bit his lip. “I'll risk it.”

“JP --” Wade stopped his protest when JP shook his head.

“It's my job. Take over when you can't.” JP crossed his arms. “That's why I'm the Heir. Because I can step in. You can watch me if you want, but you know as well as I do this can't be put off any longer.”

“They've been trying to break the protection spells.” Gar warned. “They'll come looking for you as soon as they realize.”

“It's okay. It needs to be done. Go back to being a wolf before you get in trouble.” JP took a deep breath. “Can I have food?”

Dlive wordlessly handed JP a bowl.

“I think I'm going to make plates tomorrow.” Entoan's voice shook. “It's weird eating steak out of a bowl.”

“All four of you are going to rest tomorrow.” Dlive corrected. “I'll handle everything else.”

“You've been doing everything.” 

“I don't know what you're talking about. Gar's been doing the hunting, and JP’s been doing half the chores.”

“And you've been taking care of everyone.”

“JP and Molly took care of Wade and you switched out your own bandages.”

Entoan muttered something.

“I want a bath.” Molly murmured softly.

“It's already too cold for that.” Wade murmured back. “And we don't have any way to heat up that much water.”

“Can we all get baths after we get rescued?”

“I don't see why not.”

“Rescued?” Dlive interrupted.

“I told you. We got to talk to one of Wade's men and he's already searching the mountains for us.”

“A communication spell? Did that make Molly glow?” JP turned to Gar.

Gar gave Molly a long look before giving a tiny nod. “I can’t see it in this form, but yes.”

“I'm somewhat uncomfortable with how targeted our camp is going to be tomorrow morning.” Entoan admitted.

Molly was rather warm, Wade noticed. She was leaning against him, yes, but he hadn't realized she would be so comfortable as to make him be totally okay just closing his eyes.

“We'll manage. Maybe cuddle everyone in around Wade so they can't tell who is glowing.” Dlive was saying.

A pause.

“Well, nevermind then.”

“They're both falling asleep.” Entoan said.

“Good. Let them sleep. That's the plan for Molly's day off, after all, so they might as well start now.”

Molly was comfortably warm, and Wade felt both protected and like he needed to protect her.

But by the time that thought had finished processing, Wade was asleep.

\------

The entire demon camp, including Wade and Molly, woke before dawn.

This was due largely to two things: the widespread terror and screams brought by horrific demons searching and destroying everything; and the incessant unearthly howling echoing through every inch of every skull.

This howling, Wade quickly noticed, was not produced by Gar. Their demon was sitting in front of all the humans in the shelter, fur bristling slightly. While it could have been from the cold (since it was still snowing), that seemed unlikely.

Wade cautiously sat up, trying not to throw Molly off him as he did so.

...why did he always wake up with Molly on one side and JP on the other?

Dlive was already awake, and Entoan was clearly waking. In fact, the only one who wasn't yet awake was JP.

“What's going on?” Molly asked. 

“I don't know.” Dlive said. “This has never happened before.”

Wade shook JP's shoulder. Slowly, the teen opened his eyes, clearly still exhausted from the protection spells. “What’s the sound?”

“Demons.”

“Oh.” JP rubbed his eyes. “Can I go back to sleep?”

“No.” Dlive said. “We want you to blend in right now, and that means being awake.”

“I'll let you sleep after it's over.” Wade assured.

JP frowned, but nodded.

They didn’t say anything after that, listening to the screams get closer. And while Wade never gave any indication of it, he was wondering how much of this was his fault. How much of this could he have prevented?

And then a very tentacle-y demon was standing in their camp, screaming at Gar in some other language. Gar’s ears flattened, but he didn’t move.

The demon launched at Gar. The two of them went rolling, biting and tearing at each other. 

Entoan went to cover JP’s eyes, but not in time to keep him from seeing the tentacle demon snap Gar’s leg in half.

JP jumped to his feet. “Hey! Leave him alone!”

“JP no!” Wade struggled to his feet, trying to stop the teen before it was too late.

It was too late. The demon swung around and surged over like an octopus moving along the bottom of the ocean (not that Wade had ever seen one of those), and grabbed JP’s leg with its right tentacle-arm, lifted him into the air, and stared at him.

Oh no. 

Gar growled from where he had fallen, trying and failing to get to his feet.

Dlive took a more direct approach and threw a rock at the demon.

The demon screeched and flinched -- then flung JP into a tree and stormed off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry.


	25. Lord of the Sixth Realm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get to learn a little more about Pat today.

Pat was tired of traveling already and he still had to get back to the Seventh Realm to find out if anyone there had had any luck finding Wade and JP and the others.

On the plus side, he was finally going to get to meet with the Lord and Lady of the Sixth Realm and ask for help.

Lady Stephanie Patrick already knew some. Without her, Pat would still be waiting. Without her, he'd have to ask for help in the public mini-court that went on once each week.

Lady Stephanie was already waiting in her husband's office, with Pat sitting uncomfortably across the room.

Lord Patrick walked in the door and right over to Lady Stephanie.

Pat stood and bowed.

“I thought you were to stay with Lord Barnes at all times.” 

The first words out of Lord Patrick's mouth, and Pat was already in trouble.

“He's been taken by demons.”

“Ah. That would do it.” Lord Patrick sat next to Lady Stephanie. “You've come for help, then. Are you sure he's even still alive?” He gestured for Pat to take a seat.

Pat nodded, complying. “He managed to activate a communication spell two weeks ago.”

“How long has he been held by the demons?” Lady Stephanie asked. 

“Two months.”

“He's probably dead, then.” Lord Patrick said.

“Lord Patrick, I mean no offense, but Lord Barnes is competent enough to stay alive for an additional two weeks.”

“One, call me MatPat. Two... I'm not so sure.”

Pat frowned.

“Our Realms border each other. Sometimes I catch things happening.” MatPat said. “The magic of this Realm has been upset recently. I thought it was something to do with how there's still no Heir for the Third Realm --”

“Though that is a problem.” Lady Stephanie interrupted.

MatPat looked at her and continued, “-- since we border it as well, but demons in the Seventh would certainly cause it.”

“We need to know how to get rid of them.”

“Maintaining the protection spells will certainly help keep out more.”

“Wade's been doing that.”

“I know. I would have noticed if any of the bordering Realms had their protection spells break.” 

“Then why'd you mention it?”

“He's stalling for time.” Lady Stephanie said.

“Steph, please.” MatPat glanced at his wife. “I need to look at my books.” He paused. “Why did it take Wade so long to contact you?”

“A border spell is what's keeping everyone captive.”

MatPat was silent for a long minute, then muttered softly and got up, walking into the adjoining room. A minute later, he walked back out, carrying an open book.

“If there's a border spell, there are some very old or very powerful demons. I don't know if we have the ability to break that.” MatPat shook his head. “Blood magic is something I can't do.”

“We have two royals in Septimal willing help.”

“Who?” Stephanie asked.

“King Mark of the Squirr and Prince Jack of Bossatron.”

“Hopefully that will be enough.” MatPat closed his book. “I'll be making weapons for when we fight the demons. Steph, get a troop ready. We'll leave first thing in the morning.”

“Weapons?”

“Normal swords and things won't have enough of an effect on demons to kill them before they kill us. There's not enough time to forge enough magical swords if we want to find them before winter fully sets in, but I think I can make some things that will help.”

“I'll speak to the Captain.” Stephanie stood and walked off.

“How's the rest of the Seventh Realm?” MatPat asked Pat. “How much did Wade get done before he was kidnapped? You said he's been gone two months -- he only could have been Lord for a few days.”

“He got a Stewardess and an Heir in that week.” Pat replied.

“An Heir that fast? How?”

“Do you remember JP?”

“Wade's ward. A lot of potential, as I recall, though last time I saw him, he was still grieving his family.” MatPat raised his eyebrows. “Are you trying to say he's Wade's Heir?”

Pat nodded.

“He has the magic?”

Pat nodded.

“Why wasn't it caught when he was fourteen?”

“Commoners aren't tested until they're sixteen. And that was when...” When so many people had died from the widespread illness. “They tested people after the fact, of course, but he never got tested until two months ago.”

“How's he handling being nobility?”

“He was kidnapped the night he was made Wade's Heir. A demon broke into the fortress. Wade spent hours healing people. I think the magic helped him.”

“It happens sometimes.” MatPat shook his head. “The Seventh Realm has lost two Lords and an Heir in the past six months. Somehow people aren't rioting in the streets, and the Royal family isn't calling for your execution for failing your duties as a Protector.”

Pat squirmed at his title. “Please don't use that. Not even Wade uses it.”

“Never?”

“Sometimes when we were in public in the First Realm and everyone expected it. Maybe a dozen times in ten years.” Pat shook his head. “The Royal family wouldn't execute me. Not when I can still save Wade.” He sighed. “I just need a little help doing it.”

MatPat nodded. “Who's the Stewardess?”

“My wife.”

“I assume she's filled positions at the fortress, then.”

Pat nodded. “The garrison is full.”

“Good. We're probably going to need a fair number of men.” MatPat paused, then spoke hesitantly. “Can you still remember the spell to recall Wade?”

Pat's entire body went cold. “Yes. I hope to never use it.”

“He's a human lord in a demon camp. If we don't get there in time, you might not have a choice.”

“And if I fail?”

“Then we'd better hope Heir JP is alive. And if he's not, we hope that Wade broke the rules and we have a chance at a born Heir in a few seasons, because I don't think anyone would want to take over the Seventh Realm after three nobles involved with it died.”

“Three?”

“Havendal was found dead two weeks ago. I got the news just minutes before meeting you.” MatPat took a deep breath. “He was murdered.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once I finish writing the remaining chapters (at the point of this posting, I have three left to write), I'll start posting two or three chapters a week. Getting kinda close to the end.


	26. Healing

Wade was exhausted. He had been pretty much constantly in the two days since ...

JP hadn't moved at all from where he'd finally hit the ground. Wade had picked him up and brought him back to the shelter and inspected him.

Most of JP's ribs were broken. His left arm was broken in three places, and his right in four. His hip was fractured. Both his legs bore at least two fractures each.

He'd had internal bleeding, too, but Wade had put a stop to that. Even with Dlive forcing Wade to take it slow and pause as often as possible to catch his breath.

There was no way Wade, in top condition, could have healed JP any faster than a week, or even a week and a half.

As it was, it would take Wade over two months. But then Molly and JP and Entoan would all be healed.

At the exact moment, he was healing Molly's arm. Even if he ended up just easing her pain, that was alright.

Molly's good arm slid around Wade. “You’re starting to doze. Time for a break.”

Honestly, all of them were exhausted. Molly worked in the forges, running around in the heat all day. Dlive was doing all the chores, as he was the only able-bodied person until Molly got back. Entoan couldn't walk yet, though Wade had made sure he wasn't sick anymore,but was usually the person tending Gar and JP when Wade took naps to recover from doing so much healing. Gar couldn't walk either, with a broken leg and all, so he couldn't hunt and the group had no new food except for what Dlive found on an irregular basis, leaving everyone hungry and even more tired.

Wade just sat there for a good hour, dozing.

“Wade, what's this?” Molly's fingers touched the wrist of his right hand.

Wade opened his eyes and looked. “Oh. I wasn't expecting that.” He then took Molly's right hand and turned it so her wrist showed.

Wade's insignia was glowing a faint crimson on her skin.

“I noticed it this morning. What is it?”

“It's saying we're in the courtship ceremonies. My symbol is on you. I can only presume this little fox heart is your symbol.” Wade looked at his own wrist again.

“You look surprised.”

“I wasn't expecting it to show up, since this isn't at all normal procedure.”

“Well, that means things are going okay, right?”

“At least where the magic is concerned.”

“Oh look at that. They did get together.” Dlive grinned at Entoan.

Entoan just rolled his eyes. “JP's waking up.”

Instantly, everyone's attention was on the teen.

“Ow.” JP moaned.

“Hello to you too.” Wade said, rolling to his knees next to JP. “Glad to see you awake.”

JP grimaced and opened his eyes. “I don't want to move.”

“You don't have to.” Wade assured. “Most of your bones are broken, so I'd rather you didn't move a lot.”

JP nodded. “Okay. Is Gar okay?”

“He's alive. Not really great, but alive.”

JP nodded again before grimacing in pain. 

“I know it hurts, JP, but I can't heal anyone at the moment.”

“You're gonna do the spells, right?”

“Tomorrow.”

JP seemed satisfied with that, falling silent. Hopefully sleep had overcome him so he could recover more strength.

“How are you going to perform the spells tomorrow? You're already exhausted.” Entoan asked.

“A lot of rest before and after.” Wade yawned. “In fact, I'm going to go to sleep myself.”

“Thank you for healing my arm.” Molly cuddled into Wade. “I think it's almost completely healed.”

“You're welcome.”

“I'll be able to return to forging duty tomorrow, I think.”

“Is that better?”

“Shorter shifts.”

“More time together.”

Whatever Molly said in response, Wade didn't hear it, drifting off to sleep between sentences.

\-------

“I saw a squirrel.” JP's voice woke Wade.

“Why would a squirrel come here?” Dlive said. “That doesn't make sense.”

“Look! It's on Wade.”

Wade opened his eyes to see a small squirrel sitting on him, holding a small box charm between its tiny hands.

“General Squeak. Hello.”

“Is Wade sick? Why is he talking to a squirrel?”

The squirrel bowed slightly.

“Is the Tim charm for me?”

The squirrel nodded, and put it down on Wade.

“Thank you.”

The squirrel bowed again, then scurried off.

“A Tim charm?” Dlive asked.

Wade sat up, aware Molly was already gone to the forges. “It's from a friend, one of the ones looking for us.”

“For you.” Dlive corrected. “Nobody is looking for the rest of us.”

“For everyone. They're going to free us.”

Dlive’s eyes widened, and he was silent for a long time. 

“How long?”

Wade picked up the charm that had fallen onto the ground. It began to glow slightly.

“I would expect no longer than a fortnight.

A sob escaped from Dlive. “A year of my life here, and freedom is so close.”

“Fourteen days.” JP said. “I can do fourteen more days.”

Wade smiled and turned the small charm around, looking at the small smiling face on one side and the pick moustache on the other.

Finally. Relief was on its way.

\------

Wade woke to Gar's growling, only to see the muscle demon that had threatened Gar so long ago standing in front of the shelter. 

“Which of the three bright ones performed protection spells a few hours ago?”

Gar continued to growl.

“They're the only ones shining with enough magical residue to have done it. Which one was it?”

Gar hesitated, then shimmered into his human form.

“You're mistaken. The woman has been working in the forges, as you ordered, and has gradually become brighter the longer she spends there. The man has been healing. As I told you. The child has been being healed. All of which explain their glows.”

The gross demon grabbed Gar by the neck and let him dangle, choke. “You're mistaken if you think that excuse will with on me. One of them has great magic.”

Gar's response was garbled, and he desperately tried to loosen the pressure on his windpipe.

The gross demon dropped Gar, leaving him gasping and coughing, then walked over to the shelter.

“All awake, I see. Do one of you want to give me the information I desire?”

Everyone was silent, and Molly's hand held Wade's tightly.

“Pitiful. How about I kill the lad? He's in so much pain. Surely it'd be a mercy.”

Entoan moved in front of JP.

“He's just a boy.”

The demon grinned. “Mercy can be extended to anyone.”

“Stop.” Gar said. “Leave them alone.”

Without looking, the demon grabbed Gar once again and dangled him by the throat.

“He'll die without enough air, and it's all your fault.”

Gar struggled, but his struggles got weaker with every passing moment.

No matter what Wade did, someone would die.

“Answer, or all of you will die to this endless hum!”

Hum?

That was when Wade realized.

The magic of the land was all around, humming with life, crossing the borders of the camp and filling every inch of the Realm with energy.

He'd felt this hum before -- when he healed all those people from the demon attack when JP had been kidnapped. When he'd changed the color of JP's light. But it had been weak then.

Now it was so strong as to almost be called a vibration.

The magic was there. Waiting.

Wade could sense the entirety of the Seventh Realm, even better than when he was performing the protection spells. Instead of just emotions, he could sense individuals. Jack. Mark. Magic of the Sixth Realm, telling the Seventh that Lord Patrick was coming to help with the demons.

And moments after Wade realized he could feel all of this, the demon realized it as well.

Gar hit the ground with a dull thud, Wade was torn away from Molly, someone screamed, the demon gripped him so hard he was seeing spots, and then everything went dark.


	27. Alone

Molly could hear the soft breathing of everyone sleeping around her as she stared at the roof of the shelter. Never had she felt so alone.

Where was Wade? Was he okay? Was he alive? Was he sane?

A whole day had passed. The demons had had the Lord of the Realm in their hands for a whole day. What had they done to him in that time? 

Molly looked at her wrist, expecting Wade’s symbol to be there. She couldn’t see it, but ... maybe it was just buried by the dirt and soot that covered her.

She smeared at that dirt and soot for a few minutes, pausing frequently to see if she could see it now. But the darkness made it impossible to tell.

The more Molly didn’t see the symbol, the more fear crept into her. If it was gone, did that mean Wade was dead?

A soft shuffling sounded, and Molly looked up to see Gar awake and watching her, having returned to his wolf form some time earlier.

Gar gestured to her wrist, and she turned it so he could see. Still no sign of the symbol.

“I think he’s dead.” The words broke out with a sob.

Gar bumped her wrist with his nose, then hobbled to his feet. Entoan had set Gar’s broken leg, but he was clearly still in pain and not really up to walking.

“What are you doing?”

Gar gave her a reassuring  _ bork _ and hobbled off, deeper into the demon camp, leaving Molly once again alone.

\------

Every breath hurt.

This pain was only eased by lying flat on his back, so that was what Wade did.

He hurt too much to be able to focus and heal himself.

Everything was dark, too. Wade wasn't sure if that was because he was in dark surroundings, or if he had been blinded by hitting his head. He didn't remember hitting his head, but it felt like it had come into contact with something really hard a couple of times.

How long had passed? How long had it been since the demon had dropped him here? Long enough for him to wish he had water. How long would it be before a demon came? Surely at least one would want information. 

...or for him to drop the protection spells.

He couldn’t allow that to happen. He couldn’t let these demons all the way through the Realm. 

But...if Pat and the others didn’t arrive in time, Wade would either have to perform the protection spells while trapped here -- wherever here was -- or leave it to JP. And JP was certainly in no condition to perform the spells.

Well, realistically, all Wade had to do was perform the spells until the rescue came. Or until he died from whatever the demons were going to do to him, whichever happened first. If the rescue came first, the demons could be gotten rid of much more easily, and the protection spells could be performed less frequently, giving Wade time to rest.

And if Wade died, then JP would only have to endure a short while of performing the spells before the rescue and relief and rest came.

Somehow, that was a comforting thought.

Slowly, Wade’s need for water overcame his need to stay still and stop the pain. He rolled to his knees with a groan. He couldn’t see anything still, but he was hoping his ears would help him with this.

Of course, it would help if he knew where he was, at least in relation to water or dangers. 

Well, he was likely to be here for a while. He could figure this out.

Hopefully Molly and the others were okay.

A chill ran down Wade’s back. If they weren’t okay...

No, they had to be okay. Entoan would take care of JP. Dlive would take care of Entoan and Gar. Molly would take care of Dlive.

But who would take care of Molly? Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t be worried about it, but if these were normal circumstances, Wade wouldn’t be trapped in a dark place or injured or worried about survival.

Just how injured was he, anyways? At least some of his ribs were broken -- that had to be why it hurt so much to breathe. Did he have a concussion? It would explain why his head hurt.

Wade touched his forehead, then frowned as his fingers found dried blood. Well, he’d definitely hit his head at least once.

That seemed to be all of his injuries at the moment. Only two. He could handle that, at least for now.

He tried to stand, but fell back down when pressure and pain overcame him. Clearly, standing was not the way to go. That left crawling as the easiest and likely safest option.

So crawl he did, because he really needed water. 

\------

Molly worked hard in the forges the next day. 

Wade wasn’t allowed to be dead. It wasn’t like him.

Besides, her wrist kept tingling where Wade’s symbol used to be. She still wasn’t sure if it was gone, but she couldn’t get clean enough to look at it. Realistically, she knew the symbol was probably gone. Wade was probably dead.

Something kept telling her otherwise. Something kept telling her Wade was still alive, that the symbol was still there and just faint and hard to see, and that he was going to need help.

Well, rescue was coming. Not many of the humans in the camp knew how to fight, but Wade did.

Heat flared behind Molly. One of the demons watching the forges was standing behind her then.

She was supposed to be making a sword for one of the demons, and enchant it with all sorts of damage-dealing spells and enhancements.

So, she was making a sword. And it was going to have a lot of fancy spells on it -- as many as Molly could manage. 

But it wasn’t going to be for a demon. It was going to be for Wade.

\------

Wade wasn’t sure when he first heard the odd footsteps. Was it between the thoughts of how scary the darkness was and how thirsty he was? Was it before? After?

The footsteps, though, finally got Wade’s attention.

They were very strange footsteps. Two faint ones, then a heavier one, then a pause before the cycle repeated. Almost like a three-legged demon was limping. 

...limping really close.

Then fur brushed Wade’s arm. He did the instinctive thing and screamed, backing away as far as possible before pain overwhelmed him and he crumpled.

A soft whimper sounded, then a cold nose bumped his ear before slowly hovering over the dried blood on Wade’s head. Another whimper, then the fur settled down next to Wade, and a wing came over him.

Gar?

It felt like Gar.

Wade hesitated for a minute, then put his arm on the demon’s front leg.

There. Scars from a battle, still not entirely healed.

Gar nodded, tickling Wade with his fur.

Wade’s arm slid over Gar in an awkward equivalent of a hug. Finally. Wade wasn’t alone.

Gar’s whole weight shifted to the side as he stood, knocking Wade onto Gar’s back with his wing, Then he began moving, slowly, with the sound of the footsteps from earlier, carrying Wade through the darkness.

\------

Molly was sore and tired as she got back to camp and dropped into a sitting position, so she didn’t say anything. All she did was stare into the fire, listening to the calming pops and crackles. When Dlive offered her food, she took it with a nod of thanks.

Gar wasn't back yet. None of them knew where he went. 

Molly stared at her wrist and her palm, just now noticing that the sparkles had disappeared from under her skin. How long had they been gone?

If they disappeared the night she and Wade had started dating, did that mean the two of them were meant to be together? That magic was ordering it, even though it would cost Wade his rank?

Was she ever going to get him back, or was she going to have to attend his funeral? Would other nobles even allow her to attend? Or would they just see her as Wade’s mistress?

If he died in the demon camp, would he even get a burial? Or would his funeral be a memorial service, since it's hard to bury a body that was eaten by a demon?

Molly shook her head. Something was still telling her Wade was alive. So thinking about it was only going to cause her mental and emotional pain.

\-----

When Gar dropped Wade, it was into cold, shallow water. And while it woke Wade, he was too confused to realize what was happening.

Gentle hands helped him sit up, and a soft light emanated from somewhere. 

Gar smiled at Wade, but didn't speak. Gar's expression, however, was clear -- he couldn't stay.

The two sat for a minute or two while Wade slowly managed to drink.

Then Gar turned back into a demon wolf and let Wade lean on him to walk back the way they'd come.

When Wade was settled where he'd been left by the demon, he froze, then reached out and touched an invisible wall. The border spell.

And then he had a thought, and called out to the demon hobbling away.

“Gar? Take care of Molly.”


	28. Gar-d

The sword was almost ready.

Molly was glad about that.

She'd spent a while on this sword -- a full week -- but it would have been done sooner if Gar, of all people, hadn't put in a specific order. Since the sword Molly was supposed to be making was for a generic demon, it was put aside temporarily for Gar's order.

What Gar needed a sword for, Molly didn't know, but she had followed orders regardless.

Gar's blade laid next to Wade's at the moment, and the two couldn't have looked more different.

Where Gar's was polished and gleaming, Wade's was merely metallic (although Molly was working on fixing that). Where Wade's had a long reach, with a double-handed hilt to boost, Gar's was shorter -- this difference largely because Wade and Gar had different length arms.

The most prominent difference, though, was how Wade's sword gleamed silver in tone, even unpolished, and Gar's was an equally gleamy black.

Molly had to deliver Gar's sword tonight. Then she could finish off Wade's. She still had one last spell to work into it when she polished and cleaned.

The forges were silent. The work day had finished an hour ago, but Molly had wanted to think and wrap up Gar's sword before going back to the camp to deliver it.

Never had Molly imagined she would end up making a weapon for a demon.

But here she was, looking at Gar's sword.

Molly sighed, then took the scabbard made for the sword and sheathed it. The sword hissing against the leather was a very satisfying sound, but didn't alleviate her fears about what this weapon was going to be used for.

She set the sheathed sword down, then carefully put Wade's in her tool chest. It barely fit, having to go diagonally both depth and height.

Tomorrow it would be done. Maybe Gar could take it to Wade.

Molly locked her chest, being careful to talk to the metal lock and remind it to only open to her. Then she stood, picked up Gar's sword, and started walking back to camp.

The air was heavy, ready to pour out cold and snow and sleet onto the camp. Chilling wind danced all around Molly, leaving her arms and face numb.

If only she had access to long sleeves. If only she wasn't wearing the same shirt she'd been wearing to her sister's wedding almost six months earlier.

If only she could have Wade hug her when she got back to camp to help keep her warm.

Something was still telling her Wade was alive. Even though Dlive and Entoan were convinced otherwise.

Maybe it was because she saw Gar hobble away at night, carrying leftovers from the meal, after everyone else was asleep. He was always back before dawn, without the food.

Molly only hoped he was taking it to Wade.

Maybe she was convinced Wade was alive because JP hadn't said anything about the protection spells whenever he was awake. He'd know if they had to be done, but they hadn't.

Maybe it was the way she sometimes felt pulled the direction the demon had taken Wade. Maybe it was how sometimes she felt like she was sleeping next to him at night, even though he wasn't there.

Maybe was for no discernible reason at all. But Something was telling her Wade was still alive.

How long was he going to have to hold out until the rescue? It had already been two weeks (and two days) since the communication spell. How much longer would they have to endure the chill and snow and frost?

Would any of them die before rescue came?

The thought lingered in Molly's mind as she finally arrived in camp. 

Gar was curled in the shelter -- probably around JP and Entoan to help keep them warm. They were both so weak anymore someone had to stay inside with them at all times to keep them warm and make sure they were still alive. JP hadn't even woken in the past day and a half.

Dlive was sitting by the fire, huddled into himself with the exception of his hands, which were held out against the warmth. And while the fire undoubtedly served that purpose, it also illuminated the painful-looking cracks on those same  hands.

“Any news?” Molly asked. Had Gar talked?

Dlive shook his head. “Food is in the shelter. Haven't gotten JP to eat yet.”

Not that there was much to eat, Molly noted as she went inside the relative safety of the shelter. A bowl of broth for JP, and a lump of cold rabbit for her.

Not meals fit for anyone.

Molly shoved the sword towards Gar.  “There. It's done.”

Gar lifted his head, nodded, and went back to watching JP.

“Let's get him fed.” Molly nodded to JP

Then, as Gar held still, she carefully propped the teen on Gar before beginning the slow process of feeding JP.

By the time she was finished, Dlive had snuffed the fire and joined them in the shelter. In fact, he was already asleep in the other side of Entoan.

She settled JP back into a resting position, then sighed.

Gar nudged her food towards her.

Molly picked it up and looked at it. “You visit Wade at night, don't you?”

Gar hesitated, then nodded.

Molly tore the already scanty meal in half, then held out one of the halves. “Take this to him tonight, on top of whatever you were already planning. I get the feeling he needs it more than I do.”

Gar looked at her for a long minute, then nodded once again before taking the food and carefully storing it on his paw.

Molly ate what was left, then nodded at Gar.

He stood, taking his small bundle of food, and walked off.

Molly just laid down next to JP and went to sleep.

\-----

Gar was human when Molly woke up, and sitting quietly in the corner.

“Good morning.” Gar said, running his hands along the sheath of his sword.

“I guess you like it, then.”

Gar nodded. “It's very well made.” Then he looked up. “Join me in the forest for a little.”

Molly sat up. “Can you even walk as a human? Your leg is still broken.”

“I'll be walking as a wolf. Come on. We'll be back before Dlive has breakfast ready.”

Molly nodded, then rolled to her feet. Gar became his wolf form once more, then picked up the sword with his mouth and began making his way out of camp.

They walked for about ten minutes before Gar stopped and put the sword down and became human once again, pulling himself into a fallen log with a grimace of pain.

“What are we doing?” Molly asked.

“Wade made me promise to protect you.” Gar said.

“Why does that mean we had to come out here?”

“Well, without a specific ceremony, I could end up getting sent back in the middle of you needing to be protected.”

“...Wade asked you to do this?”

Gar nodded.

“Alright then, I guess.”

Gar unsheathed his sword, then bowed his head and held it out to her with both hands, one on the hilt and one under the blade. “I, Garuku Bluemoon, offer myself to you, my lady Molly, to protect you and serve you for as long as you have need of or desire of those services.”

Something told Molly this was very powerful magic.

“I accept your offer.” Molly placed her hand on the hilt and pushed the sword back towards Gar. She didn't know how to use one, after all. Just how to make them.

The sword began to glow with a faint pink undertone.

Gar nodded, resheathing his sword.

“Is that it?”

Gar nodded. “We can go back now.”

“So, when Wade told you to protect me, did he say you had to swear fealty to me?”

“No, but it's the best option under the circumstances.”

Molly rolled her eyes. “Come on. Let's go help Dlive get everything ready for the day.”

Gar nodded, changing back into his wolf form and picking up the sword with his mouth once again.

Then Molly led the way back to camp, her new body _ gar _ d following closely behind.


	29. Wade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this a third chapter today? Yes it is. Lots of reading.

“I want to see Wade.” Molly said.

Gar shook his head, once again in human form. “That's not a good idea.”

“Why not?”

The two were whispering fiercely, practically arguing, while everyone else was asleep mere inches away.

“He's not in good shape. I'd rather you not see him like this.”

“How bad is ‘not good’?”

Gar didn't answer.

“As your lady, I order you to answer.”

Gar growled slightly. “They've been torturing him, trying to get him to drop the protection spells.”

Molly's hands covered her mouth.

“As of yet, they've mostly been leaving him alone -- completely separated from the outside world, without food, in complete silence and darkness. A trickle water naturally flows in his holding cell, but it's snow melt.” Gar shook his head. “Am I allowed to stop?”

Molly shook her head. She had to know what Wade was going through, even if it meant using Gar's servitude spell to force the information out of him.

Two days into his service, and Gar already probably hated working for Molly.

“He's pretty weak by now. I find him by the water every night, so cold he can't sleep. Sometimes I can stay long enough to make sure he gets asleep, but it's more and more dangerous each night. Lately, all I've been able to do is drop off whatever food I can before having to leave.” Gar shook his head. “I don't know how he's been managing to perform the protection spells in this condition.”

“Why can't you take him out?”

“Humans can only be taken out of the cell by the demon that brought them in it in the first place.”

“So if you took me there one night, you'd be able to take me back out.”

Gar frowned. “Yes.”

“Two nights from now, take me to see him. I want to get supplies first.”

“They may have started physical torture as well as mental by then.” Gar warned. “I don't know what we'll see.”

“Consider me warned.”

\-----

Cloak from the dump? Check. She was actually wearing it.

The baked potato Dlive had traded for that morning? Check.

Knife stolen from a dead body? Check.

Medical supplies? Check.

Good. Now all Molly needed was for it to get dark so she and Gar could visit Wade without being seen.

“Don't stay too long.” Dlive said, settling between JP and Entoan. “I don't want to have to keep both of these guys warm all night. Besides, you have work in the morning.”

“We'll be back fast.” Molly assured. “I just have to see for myself he's still alive.”

“Yeah, well, stay that way yourself.”

Gar stood, meaning it was time to go.

“Don't catch cold from all that snow.” Dlive said as they walked away.

It was indeed snowing again, but Gar put his wing over Molly, keeping her mostly dry. 

It was slow going. Gar still only had three functioning legs, and Molly didn't know where they were going. Plus, while most of the snow melted when the sun came out, some of it had formed deep snowbanks, and the wind was picking up ice shards from those and flinging them into her, stinging her exposed skin.

When Gar stopped at the entrance to a cave (something Molly only knew because of the light from the moons), Molly realized Wade was being kept underground. It didn't really surprise her, but it did made everything worse.

Gar bumped her leg, and she instinctively put her hand on him to steady herself, only to find him beginning to move forward into the cave.

Her fingers dug into his fur, and she followed along, hoping he could see more clearly than she could -- hoping he could see at all.

Some part of her hoped for an even path of some kind, but when she tripped three times in what couldn't have been longer than a minute, she knew that wasn't going to happen.

No wonder Gar couldn't get Wade out of here. Even if Gar had had the authority to do so, he wouldn't have been able to carry a semi-conscious Wade over this terrain.

Eventually, Gar came to a stop. His shoulder, and Molly's hand, lowered.

Now that they weren't moving, Molly could hear breathing -- faint, labored breathing, as if someone was in extreme pain.

“Hi Gar.” 

The words were groaned, and Molly's stomach dropped.

“Wade.” Her own voice was a horrified whisper as she dropped down next to him.

A long silence.

Molly carefully reached out and touched him, gasping when her fingers encountered blood on the surface of whatever part of Wade she was touching. “How badly are you hurt?”

Fingers weakly brushed Molly's hand. “Molly? Are you really there this time?”

Molly’s other hand grabbed Wade's. “Yes. I'm here. Just for a little, but I'm here.”

“Why?”

Molly temporarily let go of Wade to put down the bundle she'd tied to her arm. “You're so cold. Come here.” Carefully, she pulled Wade up onto herself so his head rested on her shoulder, then pulled the cloak over him, engulfing them inside it together.

“Why are you here?” Wade didn't sound any better up close.

“I ordered Gar to bring me here so I can take care of you for an hour.”

Wade shivered in her grasp. “It's dangerous. He's supposed to be protecting you.”

“He's here, waiting. He's guarding me.” Molly assured. “Just let me take care of you for a short while. Gar will make sure I leave and get sleep.”

Wade made a movement that probably would have been a head shake if he'd had more strength. “It's too dangerous.”

“Have you gotten to eat any of the food Gar brought you?”

Wade sighed. “I've always had company first -- and not the pretty kind like now.”

“I brought a baked potato. I'm not leaving until you eat it, okay? And let me get a look at your injuries.”

“Why are you so stubborn?” 

“It's good for you. Come on.”

After a bit more trying to get Molly to leave, Wade finally gave in and took the baked potato.

“How long have I been here?” Wade finally asked.

“Two weeks.” Molly didn't look up from treating his worst wound.

“Oh. Thought it was shorter. Was sure I'd be dead by ten days.” Wade at least sounded stronger, even if he really wasn't. Whether that was because of the potato or because he had finally stopped shivering in the cloak with Molly, she didn't know.

“Keep holding on.” Molly hugged him. “Rescue will come.”

“Do you know where the charm is?” 

“What charm?”

“It's a small box charm with a moustache painted on one side. It's a tracker -- should help everyone find the camp.”

“I'll look for it.” Molly paused when Gar bumped her. “It's time for me to go. I'll leave you the cloak.” She began working on taking it off with one hand.

“No, they'll know you were here. Gar,  don't let her leave it. They'll hurt her.” Wade's voice went up an octave.

Gar took the cloak in his mouth and gently pulled it from Molly's hand, then helped Wade away from Molly before forcing Molly away with his wing.

Something told Molly that if rescue didn't come soon, that might be the last time she ever saw her boyfriend.

And that scared her more than anything she'd encountered inside the cell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost feel bad about what I'm doing to these guys.


	30. Holding On

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you go back and read the very first chapter, I changed the names of the places a bit. It's just to make it easier for consistency over the course of the series, since I'm starting to write the second fic.

Somehow, Molly made it through another week. A week with no signs of rescue, though she did find the charm Wade had spoken about. It stayed in her hand while she was in camp, and gave it to JP to hold while she was working.

A week without seeing Wade, and only Gar’s morning reports telling her Wade was still alive -- though Gar had started refusing to tell Molly what kind of condition Wade was in. Sure, she could have forced Gar to tell, but she didn't want to. Not if it was that bad.

A week of Dlive working to exhaustion at the camp, and Molly at the forges.

A week of Entoan gradually regaining strength as his feet healed more, and beginning to be able to help out again.

A week of JP remaining in semi-consciousness, so many bones broken even a trained healer wouldn't be confident the Heir would ever have a full recovery.

A week of nightmares, leaving Molly reaching for Wade, only to remember the reason she was having the nightmares was because he was being tortured by demons.

A week of snow and cold, complete with winds streaking across the ocean and up the mountain and saturating the wood with mist and making it hard to light a fire.

A week of perfecting Wade's sword, working as many spells into it as possible. Spells to help keep it sharp. To help Wade focus his magic. To feel a little lighter than it really was in battle, so Wade could use it for longer without getting so worn out. 

Spells to keep it from breaking in battle, to take longer to rust. Spells to discourage people from stealing the sword by inflicting both guilt and a tingling sensation on whoever touched it without permission. 

Currently, she was debating the pommel. Under normal circumstances, with making a sword for a lord, she would have placed a jewel or another precious stone in to help make it look fancier without compromising the balance, but she didn’t have anything like that available to her, so it was just a stylized chunk of metal with a space for a stone.

Although, with how much she was polishing it, it was going to be a very shiny stylized chunk of metal by the time she ended up giving it to Wade.

“Why isn't it ready.”

The where were spoken by the demon overseeing the forges.

“Because it isn't. It doesn't have a proper pommel stone.” Molly didn't bother looking up.

“A stone is unnecessary.”

“This is a powerful weapon.” Molly began to oil the blade. “It will be stronger still if a stone is set with magic.”

“Can you do that?”

“If I have the stone.”

The demon watched her for a minute more. “Come. I will lead you to the jewels we have kept. Choose one for the sword.”

Molly sighed, but stood and locked the sword in her chest before following the demon.

Apparently that wasn't enough, because the demon picked her up and carried her. Even though she struggled, she couldn't get it to drop her.

At least, until it literally dropped her.

“Choose.”

Molly pushed herself up, groaning slightly. Everything hurt from that two-minute ride.

“Stop being so fragile and choose.”

Molly looked around the room, trying to ignore the chills running down her back. This was a cave that felt an awful lot like the one Wade was being kept in.

And every surface was covered in jewels and precious stones.

Is this where Gar had gotten the jet Molly had set in his sword?

“What jewel do you require?”

Molly glanced back at the demon. “Clear cut.”

The demon moved around, pulling various jewels off the shelves and placing them within Molly's reach.

Most of them screamed of having been corrupted by demonic magic. Molly didn't want that.

Finally, after what must have been hours inspecting expensive rocks, Molly found one that would do just fine -- a coin-sized ruby that glimmered without any magic inside it.

“Have you found it?” The demon had been surprisingly patient throughout all this, allowing her to touch stones and putting them back if she knew they wouldn't work.

Molly nodded, turning the ruby over. 

“How long will it take to spell the stone into place?”

“The process itself only takes a few hours, but I have to prepare this first.” She lifted the ruby. She'd never actually prepped a stone for setting before, her father had always done it, but now that she knew she could do non-metal magic, she was sure she could. 

“How long will it take to prepare?”

Uh... “That depends on the stone and how stubborn it is. I can't give you an exact estimate.”

The demon nodded. “Very well. Work an extra two hours a day until the sword is complete.”

Molly internally groaned, but nodded. That internal groan turned into an audible squeak as the demon picked her up again and took her back to the forges.

Then the demon left, leaving her standing alone in the empty forges -- because they were empty. The work day must have ended. Unsurprisingly, as the orange and red light of sunset was streaming through the entrance.

Molly walked over to her chest and unlocked it, then carefully placed the ruby in with the sword. “You two get to know each other.” 

She could have sworn the sword hummed happily.

Molly closed the chest, shaking her head. Her father wouldn't like that she had waited until the sword was otherwise finished to even consider a pommel stone. But he wasn't here, so she could do whatever she wanted in regards to order.

Then she ran back to camp, trying to get there before darkness fell. The last thing she wanted right now was Gar having to go looking for her. 

“JP started muttering.” Dlive said as soon as Molly was sitting next to them. “We don't know what he's saying, but he's saying something.”

Molly looked at JP. He was still and silent as usual. “Is he sick?”

“He's got a fever, but it's not high enough to cause something like this.” Entoan murmured.

“Does he still have the charm?”

Entoan nodded, pulling open JP's hand to show the small box.

Molly picked it up and instantly gasped. “It's hot.”

“It's not going to be cold after JP held it all day.” Dlive pointed out.

Molly rolled her eyes. “I know that. But this is hotter than JP.” She frowned. “Is it active or something?”

Everyone capable of doing so shrugged.

“Hold on.” A man's voice emerged from the charm. “We're gonna get you out of there. It's gonna take a little longer, but help is coming. Just keep holding on.”


	31. Preparations

Pat wasn’t sure what to expect when he walked into Wade’s office with MatPat in tow, but he was incredibly happy that the words “We found where Wade is” came out of Mark’s mouth. Also incredibly tired, as MatPat had rushed his troops to the Seventh Realm and somehow managed to cut five days off the travel time.

MatPat bowed in the direction of Mark and Jack, then looked at Mark. “Where is he?”

Mark dipped his head in return. Rank greetings. “Here.” He tapped the map on Wade’s now very cluttered desk. 

“That’s still a whole mountain.”

“It’s not the whole mountain. It’s...am I allowed to draw on Wade’s map?” This second half was directed at Marie.

Marie nodded. “With charcoal.”

Pat moved over to her and took her hand, then watched as Mark circled a small area on the map.

“General Squeak said this is the border spell.”

“It extends over the ocean.” MatPat observed.

“They’re likely very cold by now. It’s been snowing in the mountains for a while now.” Jack pitched in. 

“I brought some supplies to help, but I couldn’t spare much with winter so close.” MatPat sounded apologetic about that.

“No, it’s good you take care of your people.” Jack scratched his head. “Mark, what can your men spare?”

“Most of them have spare cloaks. We didn’t want to get caught in a storm in the passes without enough warmth.”

“Can they manage with just one?”

Mark nodded.

“We have a few healers working hard getting medical supplies ready.” Marie said. “But without knowing how many are still alive, it’s hard to know how much we’ll need.”

“Surely all of them won’t need treatment.” Jack blinked.

“They’ve likely been mistreated very badly,” MatPat said, “seeing as most demons relish in causing pain. Injuries, if the demons allowed treatment at all, would have been done by amateurs and with few supplies.”

“Except for Wade having been there for two months.” Mark said.

“He isn’t so stupid as to risk outing himself when the demons will want nothing but to hurt him and get information out of him.”

“He found out about his healing magic almost a decade before he was tested for nobility magic.” Pat said. “He knows how to heal without drawing on magic, or even how to heal with magic without drawing on nobility magic. He won’t be noticed like that.”

“I seriously doubt Wade would be able to heal every single person in that camp.” Jack said. “He’s great and all, but he has limits. Overextending himself isn’t going to help anyone, and he knows that.”

“He also cares deeply for other people.” Mark sighed. “General Squeak gave me more information. The people are separated into small camps, with a maximum of five humans and one demon at each one. Wade’s individual camp is close to the edge of the camping area, but it’s a good three miles inside the border -- three miles of rocky ground and thick forest. It’ll be slow going once we get inside. 

“More importantly, though, is that there were signs of four other humans being in that same camp. General Squeak recognized JP, but not the other two that were there. The last one wasn't physically present, and is probably Molly. JP and one of the others were injured, JP badly.” Mark frowned. “Squeak described Wade as exhausted. There was no way Wade is in any condition to be doing large amounts of healing.”

Pat frowned. 

“What’s worse, Squeak said the past few weeks, he hasn’t seen Wade at all.” Mark frowned. “In the three days we’re expecting to travel, and with the snow and cold, our chances of finding Wade himself get smaller and smaller.” He tapped his fingers. “Pat, will you be able to tell if Wade is dying or dead when we get closer?”

“I don’t know. I hope so.”

“Doesn't he have to be alive?” Bob asked. “Someone is doing the protection spells. If JP's badly injured, he wouldn't be able to. By default, that leaves Wade.”

“Not necessarily.” Mark shook his head. “Marie was going through the records. Only half the people who were taken were tested for nobility magic. It's possible the magic of the Realm was able to use an untested person to perform the spells.”

Bob frowned. “I knew the test is optional here, but half?”

“Half.”

“How many camps were there?” Marie asked.

“Over fifty. Squeak couldn’t get an exact count.”

“If each of them have five people, then we’re looking at supplies for two hundred and fifty people.” She frowned. “We don’t have that kind of resources.”

“We’ll see how we do when we pool our resources.” Jack said. “Hopefully we’ll get close enough.”

“How are we supposed to defeat over fifty demons?” Bob asked quietly.

MatPat nodded. “Good question. I did research, and the wagons I brought are filled with various powders, items, and other weaponry made to deal with them. We won’t be able to take the wagons off the mountain roads, but it’ll make transportation easier until then.” He paused. “There should be enough room in one of them to carry medical supplies, too. That way, we won’t have to carry everything all at once and worry about losing or destroying it on the way. Just what we’ll need for the initial life-saving treatments.”

“Combined, we have just over fifty available soldiers.” Bob pointed out. “I don’t know about you, but I seriously doubt my ability to take down a demon by myself. Even with a magical weapon.”

MatPat dipped his head. “It will be hard. Most likely, though, the less powerful demons will leave on their own once we break the border spell. It’s better to run than to die.” He shook his head. “Unfortunately, it’s the powerful demons we have to worry about. They won’t run. And they’ll have a lot of magic at their fingertips. We’ll need help.”

“We don’t have more soldiers available, though. That’s the point.”

“If we can get some medium-power demons to leave, that will help even out the playing field.” MatPat paused. “Assuming half the demons have low or medium magic levels available to them, then and we can get them to leave, then we’ll have two soldiers for each demon.”

“Still not good numbers.”

"No. And I don’t know how we could trick so many demons into leaving.”

Mandy  _ hmmm _ ed. “There’s a woman in the city who can create very impressive illusions.”

“Could she create an army?”

“I'll ask.”

“If she can, bring her.”

“When are we leaving tomorrow?” Marie asked.

“Can I talk to you about that?” Pat asked.

Marie's eyes narrowed, but she allowed him to pull her out of the room and someplace they could have a private discussion.

“How's Stephanie?” Mark casually asked MatPat.

“Doing okay. Taking care of things at home.”

“And what if you don't come back from this?”

MatPat sighed. “I have my Protector, so I should.”

“Bob, Mandy, why don't you get started on your jobs.” Jack interrupted.

Both of them left.

“Your Protector won't do you any good if they die. And then you'll have to worry about maybe not having an Heir for the Sixth Realm.” Mark pressed.

MatPat paced for a moment before turning to the two royals. “There will be an Heir. Not yet, but there will be come spring.”

“Congratulations.” Jack murmured. “Explains why the lady who rarely leaves your side didn't accompany you on this journey.”

MatPat nodded his thanks. “I'm still not planning on dying. But if I do, the Sixth Realm will be alright.”

“And what if she miscarries and you're dead?” Mark said. “What's supposed to happen then?”

“Then the Lady of the Sixth Realm will need a husband, and the Lord of the Seventh will need a wife.” MatPat sighed. “And each needs an Heir.”

“She's supposed to marry  _ Wade _ if everything goes wrong?”

MatPat nodded.

“Does Wade know?” Jack asked.

“He might, but I imagine he hasn’t thought about it since he was kidnapped. If he ever thought of it.”

Jack let out a long breath. “To spare them both that fate, let's keep you alive.”

“Agreed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really nervous that someone will read this chapter and go "but Stephanie isn't pregnant," so I'm just gonna remind you guys -- this isn't reality. Thanks for being willing to go along with it anyways.


	32. Bitter Cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything is getting cold, and it's crunch time.

Molly inspected Wade's sword, aware the overseer was scrutinizing her.

“Is it complete?” The overseer finally asked.

“Almost. I need to seal all the enchantments on it.”

The overseer nodded and walked off, probably to make some other smith nervous -- though with only three of them in the whole forges, it wouldn't be long before the overseer returned.

Molly let out a deep breath. 

The voice hadn't come through the charm since that night a week ago.

How much longer did they have to hold out? As cold as it was, winter still hadn't fully arrived. Too much longer, though, and the bitter cold would set in.

And would Wade be able to survive any more changes in environment?

\------

Wade couldn't feel his fingers.

He couldn't feel his toes.

He couldn't feel his hands or feet.

He had only the vaguest awareness of his arms and legs.

In fact, there were only two things he could feel with such distinctiveness as to be sure they were still part of him:

His chest, because it hurt with every breath...

And his head, because it was constantly pounding and aching.

The good news about this was he was sure his head was still attached to his shoulders, even if they themselves were somehow broken (he wouldn't be surprised), and he was sure his lungs were working because he could feel their every movement, including the heavy ache that accompanied every minute.

The bad news was he wasn't actually sure if the rest of his limbs were attached.

If he took the time to reason it out, he probably was still entirely attached to himself. He hadn't died of blood loss, after all. 

That wasn't to say he wasn't going to end up dying from blood loss. He was sure he was at least already noticeably on that path. 

Again, it was hard to tell when he couldn't feel most of his body.

Honestly, if the chance for escape came, Wade wouldn't be able to take it. He couldn't move without at least some feeling in his limbs. He probably didn't even have enough enough energy or strength to get more than a few feet.

Come to think of it, he hadn't moved since Gar had come the night before and helped him get to the water. 

Something told him he needed to move towards the entrance to the cave -- specifically to the part of the border spell that poked into the cave.

Shuddering at the effort it already took, Wade slowly rolled onto his side, then stopped and took few long breaths to allow the increased pressure in his head to ease.

It didn't, so Wade continued making small movements.

He still wasn't sure why, but he needed to get to the border spell.

\--------

“You look nice and cold.” Mark casually observed, all bundled in his heavy cloak and looking quite warm.

Pat pulled his cloak tighter around himself, glad he was wearing his beanie. “It’s Epona I’m worried about.” He patted his warhorse’s neck reassuringly, causing it to flick an ear at him. “He doesn’t like the cold.”

“Chica wouldn’t like it either.”   
  
"Yeah, but she gets to stay in the warmth.”

Mark had left Chica in Septimal with Marie, and Pat was kind of envying them both. 

But if he had stayed, he wouldn’t be here, tense and armored and riding on a horse and going to rescue people.

“How long until we reach the border spell?” Pat asked.

“At this rate, we’ll be getting there around nightfall.”

“Oh, good. I always wanted to fight demons in the dark.”

Mark laughed. “It’ll certainly be an adventure.”

“I’ll be sure to thank Wade for it after this is all over.”

Mark laughed again, then moved his horse to go talk to Jack.

“Lord Patrick seems nervous.” Bob pulled up his horse near Pat. Impressively, Bob didn’t fall off the horse -- something of a miracle, considering he’d never been on a horse before leaving for the trip.

Pat looked over at MatPat, who was most definitely frowning through the bandana he was using as a scarf. “I’ll ask him why when we stop for a break.”

Breaks. Both the best and worst parts of this excursion rolled into one. It meant they got breaks, because the foot soldiers had to rest from plowing through snow. The horses did too, especially the pack horses, as they were carrying pretty heavy loads and had been since the group had left the wagons on the road a few hours earlier.

“You’re in charge. Call one whenever you want.” Bob reminded.

Pat frowned. “I don’t know why you guys put me in charge of this. I don’t have the training.”

“No, but you do want Wade back, even more than the rest of us.” Bob shrugged. “You’re going to keep the goal in mind, no matter how hard it gets.”

“I would like to remind you of the two options I face if Wade is dead when we get there.” Pat raised his eyebrows. “Either I’m gonna get executed because I didn’t do my job or I’m gonna have to go on the run for the entire rest of my life. And either way, I’ve lost one of my friends.”

“I don’t think they’d execute you.” Bob looked over at Mark and Jack and MatPat. “I think they’d banish you. It’s not like you didn’t try to stop Wade from getting taken.”

“Thanks Bob. I feel so much better now.” Pat turned his attention to the various soldiers and guards trekking behind them. “Who’s holding up the rear?”

“Lord Patrick’s Protector.”

“Go join him. We’ll be taking a break in a few minutes.”

Bob nodded, making a face and pulling his horse to the back of the group.

The break was well-received, and while it was going to do everyone some good, Pat didn’t want it to go on for too long. This bitter cold was seeping through the leather under his armor, so he could only imagine how it would affect everyone else.

Pat glanced over the soldiers again, keeping an eye on them. Each of the outsiders that had brought soldiers -- Mark, Jack, and MatPat -- were speaking with their men, probably asking after their well-being.

Well, Bob was taking care of that for their soldiers, so Pat went over to MatPat and dismounted, grunting as his cold joints complained.

MatPat looked up from his conversation, clapped the soldier on the shoulder, and walked over to Pat. “You’re doing well for your first time in command. None of my men have serious complaints.” He still hadn’t pulled down his scarf.

“Appreciate it.” Pat frowned. “You’re still frowning. What’s wrong?”

MatPat sighed and led Pat a little away, where they would be unlikely to be overheard by someone just passing by. “The protection spells here are taking serious hits. It’s like someone or something is assaulting them, trying to break them. The closer we’ve gotten to this demon camp, the stronger the feeling has gotten.”

Pat frowned. “How long do we have?”

“Until they break? It depends if someone qualified performs the spell in time. If that doesn’t happen...I think the end of the day.”

“Why don’t you perform the spells?”

“I’m not qualified to do it for this Realm.” MatPat shook his head. “I’m bound to the magic of the Sixth Realm. In order for it to work, the spells would have to be performed by either the noble bound to the Seventh Realm -- Wade, our missing Lord Barnes -- or an Heir -- and from what we’ve been told, JP won’t be in any condition to do that -- or a common-born noble born inside the borders of the Seventh Realm.”

“So...we’ve got until the end of the day to get rid of these demons. And we’re not even supposed to arrive at the border spell until nightfall. I sense a problem.”

“We’ll have to move faster.”

“That’ll wear everyone out. They’ll already be tired when we get to the fighting.”

MatPat shook his head. “But if we get there too late, it won’t matter if they’re rested.”

Pat stared at the soldiers, then at the snow covering the forest floor ahead of them. Then he sighed and turned back to his horse, remounting. “Alright everyone! Break’s over. We’ve got to keep moving before you all freeze stiff!”


	33. The Border Spell

JP was talking again, words so faint they could barely be heard. Dlive couldn’t make out what the Heir was saying.

Entoan looked up from JP, looking rather disturbed. “He said ‘The spells...they’re falling’.”

Dlive blinked. “The spells? The protection spells?”

Gar looked up from where he was sitting next to the as-of-yet unlit fire.

“I don’t know. That’s all I can make out.” Entoan shook his head.

Dlive frowned. “I’m going to assume the worst.” He turned to Gar. “What happens if the protection spells break?”

Gar shook his head.

“Okay. Nothing good.” Dlive looked at JP. “We need to get him out of here, I think. Maybe if everything goes really badly, he can fix the protection spells later.”

“Why hasn’t Wade done anything?” Entoan looked like he didn’t really want the answer to that.

“I think Wade’s dead.” No point in thinking anything else. “Or about to be.” Dlive shook his head. “JP’s our best chance here.”

“We can’t get him out. None of us can leave -- the border spell is in the way.” Entoan looked at the sky. “And the sun’s about to start to set. We won’t be able to see where we’re going.”

Dlive groaned. “We’ve got to at least keep JP alive.” He looked over at Gar. “Where’s Molly? Still at the forges?”

Gar nodded.

“Go to her, make sure she stays safe. We’re going to need her help.” Dlive shook his head. “We might end up trying to heal JP and keep up protection spells while on the run from demons, and I want as many hands on deck as possible for that.”

Gar stood, moving off as quickly as he could under the circumstances.

Dlive looked back at Entoan. “We should arm ourselves. I get the feeling a fight is coming.”

\-------

Everything was starting to fade.

No. Not yet. He had to get to the border spell.

Wade dragged himself towards the cave wall where the border spell peeked through, very aware of the gash in his arm bleeding everywhere.

Why had the demon stopped? Just a few minutes more and Wade likely would have died right then. As it was, Wade was expecting to die anyways.

But the border spell. Something was still urging him to get to it, and so he was going to. Even though it was probably going to be the last thing he was ever going to do.

There. There it was. Just six feet away.

Wade managed to crawl another foot before everything finally faded.

\------

“So I think I found a problem.” Bob said, watching Mark and Jack standing in front of the invisible border spell. “We need three people with royal blood. We only have two.”

“We’re hoping they can break it anyway.” MatPat replied. “Though the effort of it might take them out of the battle.”

Bob frowned. “I don’t think I really like that thought.”

“None of us do.”

“Did Mark get any more news about Wade? Has General Squeak seen Wade?” Pat asked.

MatPat shook his head. “Not a squeak.”

Pat gave him a flat look.

“Can you sense Wade yet?” Bob asked.

Pat stared deep into the forest, trying to feel any of that connection he was so used to feeling, trying to get a hold on Wade’s location -- or even a hint of it.

Nothing.

“I can’t sense anything.” He didn’t bother looking back at the others. “And I really mean nothing. I can’t tell if he’s alive. I also can’t tell if he’s dead.”

“So we have no additional information.” Bob sighed. “I don’t like not knowing.”

“Neither do I.”

Pat’s gaze returned to Mark and Jack. It was hard not to look at them, honestly, knowing what they were going to do.

MatPat sighed. “They’re starting.”

Pat glanced at him. The two royals hadn’t done more than look at the border spell -- although it looked like they were just staring into space for Pat, because he couldn’t see the border.

“I can feel the magic.” MatPat explained.

Ah.

That wasn’t actually a helpful explanation.

When Pat looked back, both Mark and Jack had one hand held against something Pat couldn’t see. 

Pat sighed. If it weren’t for the stakes involved, it would be a rather pretty evening. The orange light of sunset was filtering through the few evergreen trees and the large number of nearly-empty branches of the other trees. No clouds were in sight, and the sky was impossibly clear.

It was still a rather pretty evening. Pat just couldn’t enjoy it knowing there were fifty demons behind an invisible wall.

Mark lifted his hand off the wall, and Jack collapsed onto it.

“Don’t.” MatPat’s voice was silent, but very commanding.

“But --” Bob protested.

“Don’t interfere.”

Mark grabbed the dagger he was wearing (because apparently his sword was too much for the task at hand) and  _ why was he cutting his own hand?! _

Mark placed his now bloodied hand on the invisible wall, and blood started dripping down the surface in tiny streams.

Jack’s groan was audible as he pushed himself up and then took his own hand off the wall.

Mark buckled, falling to his knees, a streak of blood following his hand down the wall.

This time, when Jack reached for his knife, Pat knew to look away.

“Why can’t they just throw one of Jack’s bombs at it?” Bob whispered, horrified. “Aren’t they magical?”

He was referring to the blue and green and black spheres Jack had tied to his belt. Jack had called them his Sams, and Pat thought they rather looked like eyes.

“They’re not strong enough for a spell like this.” MatPat said. “Though they will be incredibly helpful when dealing with a major demon.”

A long moment of silence, where all Pat could do was stroke Epona’s mane.

A strangled gasp from Bob. “Lord Patrick, please. This can’t be what’s supposed to happen.”

“It’s not.”

Pat looked up, and instantly wished he hadn’t. The two royals were unmoving in the awful mix of mud and snow and fallen leaves, their smeared bloody handprints hanging in the air by themselves.

“What’s happening?”

“There wasn’t enough variation in royal blood.” MatPat shook his head.

“Why isn’t anyone moving to get them?” Bob asked.

“Because it’s blood magic. They’re stuck in the spell until it either is completed or they manage to break it off.” MatPat pulled down his scarf and turned to his Protector. “Go ahead and get some medical supplies ready. Hopefully, they manage to break it off and we’ll be able to treat them.”

MatPat didn’t sound so sure of himself.

\------

Wade was still unconscious where he had fallen all those hours before. 

His arm had never stopped bleeding, as the demon who had inflicted the wound had done something to it. One of the side effects of that something was no clotting.

Now, he’d never been in any immediate risk of death from the wound, but hours had passed, and hours of slow blood loss still led to large amounts of blood loss. This meant he was currently in a large puddle of his own blood. 

A puddle which, after hours, had finally touched the border spell. Wade’s blood, royal by birth, finished the requirements for breaking the border spell.

\------

The blaze of light was so bright Pat had to close his eyes or risk being blinded. Red and purple arched into the sky before fading, but Pat’s attention was already held by something else.

Wade.

Wade was dying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay you guys get the entire rest of this fic in one night. Hope you guys are up for the reading.


	34. Chaos

“The border spell is down!” MatPat hollered. And then, to Pat, “The protection spells are minutes away from falling.”

Pat looked up. “Wade.” Without even waiting for an answer of any kind, he urged Epona into a gallop and took off full speed into the woods.

How long did he have to get to Wade? How long had Wade been dying? How long was left? 

Those were the thoughts that repeated themselves as Epona galloped. 

He had to go. He had to get to Wade on time.

\-----

The demons were screaming.

It was really quite disconcerting, actually.

Molly grabbed Wade’s sword, glad she had been able to keep it close. While she didn’t know how to use it, having a weapon in hand automatically made her feel better.

Something told her she needed to get out of the forges. 

She looked over at Gar, only to find him giving her a very human grin, and in a human form (and wearing his sword -- he hadn’t had it on him earlier, so where did he get it?).

“What’s that for?”

“The border spell is broken.” He grinned again. “I can use my healing magic now.” With those words spoken, he turned his attention to his leg. After only a minute, he was standing. “Let’s get you back to the others.”

Molly shook her head.

“And why not?” 

Molly frowned. “Something’s telling me I have something else I need to do first.”

Gar scrutinized her. “What do you mean?”

“Something is telling me ...” Molly frowned. “There’s something I have to do.” She turned and bolted out of the forges, into the forest.

“Molly! Don't go off alone!” Gar sounded distressed at that, and his footsteps quickly followed her.

What was she doing? Honestly, she had no idea. All she knew was she had to listen to this feeling.

She only ran for a few minutes. Long enough to get away from the immediate damage that followed whenever demons started screaming.

Something told her to sit down, and to repeat a phrase, so that the protection spells could be repaired.

She complied.

\------

Dlive glared at the demon approaching them.

It wasn’t Gar, that was for sure. Dlive had seen Gar in all three of the forms he took on a regular basis, and this was most definitely not one of them.

No, this was the tentacle demon that had thrown JP into the tree.

The demon was screeching. There didn’t seem to be any specific direction to the sound. It was just painful sound.

Then a figure on a horse tore by the demon.

The demon howled.

“Gotta go gotta go gotta go!” the rider yelped, not even stopping for the demon.

JP groaned from behind Dlive. “I...heard Pat.”

“You know that guy?” Entoan asked.

JP didn’t answer.

“Does that mean our rescue is here?”

Dlive glared at the demon that had started coming closer again. “I hope so, because I can’t fight a demon with a big stick very well.”

The demon lunged.

\-----

They’d barely gotten to the actual camps before the first demon attacked the group.

MatPat threw one of his powder bombs at it, and the demon screamed and ran off, melting.

Jack gagged at the smell. “That’s nasty.” 

Bob glanced at the prince, somewhat surprised he’d decided to come with them into the fight. Jack was clearly not doing well, unsteady in his saddle.

“You might want to sit this out after what you did.” Bob said.

“Not a chance.” Jack pulled himself upright on his horse and began untying the Sams from his belt. “Mark’s on his way, too.”

Bob glanced behind them to see the King of the Squirr on his horse, approaching fast.

“Mark!” Bob exclaimed as the royal drew even with them. “Where did General Squeak see JP?”

Mark nodded, gesturing for Bob to follow, then moved away from the group. Bob followed, and the two moved quickly around the edge of the camp.

Bob pulled up short when he saw a demon attacking one of the small camps -- a man fighting back with a makeshift club, with another man behind and --

“JP!”

The teen didn’t respond to Bob’s call, but he didn’t care.

Mark took a more direct approach.

He drew his sword and swung it, cutting deep into the demon.

The demon crumpled.

“What?” The man with the club exclaimed. “Who are you?”

“I’m --” A tentacled demon jumped on Mark, pulling him and his horse down. Bob didn’t have time to react before a tentacle wrapped around his horse and yanked it, pulling Bob down with it.

\----

By the time Gar reached Molly, she was sitting quietly on a rock, eyes closed and breathing oddly even.

What was she?...

Oh no.

Gar swore. “Why the protection spells, Molly? You don’t have nobility magic. You’re gonna die.”

A laugh. “Good. So are you.” 

Gar rolled, barely dodging the blow from the gross muscular demon, and drew his sword.

“A human weapon for a human form. Fight me as a demon.”

Gar shook his head. 

“Then fight me in your wolf form. Make this an even playing field.”

Gar just readied himself for the fight.

Maybe Molly was going to die because she was performing the protection spells.

But Gar was going to make sure those spells actually went through. He had already failed Wade and his friends once. He wasn't going to fail the Realm.

When the muscle demon lunged at Molly, Gar was there to intercept.


	35. Battle

No fewer than six demons were attacking MatPat and his Protector and Jack.

Jack lobbed one of his Sams at the largest demon. 

The Sam hit the demon in the middle of its squishy self, and the ensuing explosion sent bits of demon flying all over.

Jack hollered, a sound of pure panic.

MatPat wheeled his horse around, only to see Jack unconscious on the ground, and the prince's horse being torn to shreds by another demon.

That poor horse.

MatPat threw one of his bombs, but only one of the demons fled. The other began reaching for Jack.

Six soldiers materialized out of thin air, behind the demon.

Ah yes. The illusory woman had joined them. Day, her name was.

The demon turned to face this new threat, and MatPat took the opportunity to throw another powder bomb at it.

This time, it screamed and ran. Sixth Realm soldiers caught up and killed it.

MatPat rushed over to Jack, then quickly gave the prince a visual inspection.

It looked like Jack's foot had been caught in the stirrup and now his leg was broken.

But there was no time to remove to prince from the battlefield, so MatPat would just have to fight off the remaining four demons before they got to the downed prince.

\------

Mark slashed at the tentacles grabbing at him with his dagger. Quarters were too close for his sword. Besides, it had been knocked out of his grasp when he’d been tracked by tentacles and had his horse pulled from under him.

It was, Mark noticed, difficult to hold onto a weapon when you were coated in blood. It was also difficult to ensure you were hitting the correct target when the sun was setting.

Suddenly, he was upside down, dangling by an ankle.

“No you don't!” The club man shouted. “Why aren't you dead yet? He cut you in half!”

Mark couldn't see what was going on. The world was spinning too violently.

Then he was dropping. Hitting the ground, shoulder first. Pain erupting from said shoulder.

Then Bob was standing over him, slashing tentacles until they stopped coming.

Bob looked at Mark. “Stay here, keep JP safe and alive. I'm going to go look for Lord Barnes.”

“The demons took him away weeks ago.” Entoan said. “We haven't seen him since. We don't even know if he's alive.”

Bob nodded. “I know.” And then he ran off, straight back into the worst of the battle.

\-----

This really wasn't a fair fight, Gar knew. He was half the size of the other demon, and had to worry about defending Molly and not just himself. And even though he had a really cool sword, he wasn’t sure he was going to win this.

Though... he didn’t have to win it.

He just had to hold him off until the protection spells settled. Until Molly died from that rather than from being torn apart by a demon.

That thought in mind, Gar pushed back.

Dodge, slash, duck, stab. Trust left to avoid the incoming kick. (Why was the other demon playing dirty?)

“Fight fair.” Gar said flatly.

“Why? So I can maintain honor? There's no honor among demons.” The other demon kicked Gar in the ribs, sending him skidding backwards and his sword clattering on the ground.

The demon smirked. “Oh, that felt good.”

Gar got up, holding his side with one hand. Definitely broken ribs. Maybe internal bleeding. Probable chance of getting to the sword before the other demon. Unknown likelihood of survival.

Gar ran for his sword, gasping when the other demon landed a glancing blow in his shoulder.

The hilt of his sword now in hand, Gar stood, trying to ignore the pain shooting up his side.

“Why are you bothering with this? Just let her die.”

Gar shook his head. “Sorry. Can't do that.”

The other demon tilted its head, then began to laugh scornfully. “You fool. How did she manage to get you to be her protector? What did you have to offer? I didn't think you had the guts to do something like that.”

Gar shuddered. “Nothing like that happened. She's taken.”

The other demon scoffed, as if to say something else, and Gar glared at him. 

“So how did one of the most powerful young demons in existence come to be magically bound to a nobody?”

Gar held his sword in a resting position, waiting and watching for the attack that would inevitably come.

The other demon stared at Gar for several minutes before smirking again. “You could have had it all. Instead you choose to suffer with a group of nobodies.”

This time, when the other demon lunged, Gar was ready.

The sword slid smoothly through the demon’s torso, blade glinting red as it emerged from the other side.

The gross demon made a slight choking sound, but pulled itself upright and off the blade.

Once again holding Gar by the throat.

Gar kicked, but didn't have the reach to hit the demon anywhere.

Maybe. Just had to relieve pressure. Then could continue with fighting.

Gar grabbed the gross demon's arm and pulled himself up with it as brace of sorts, ending up dangling off the demon's arm with both legs and one arm wrapped around the skinless arm.

\----

MatPat looked around, trying to spot more demons before they attacked helpless people.

What he saw was a great deal of illusory soldiers and a few far-off demons and dozens of gaunt faces and poor-quality clothes hanging off too-small frames.

“Start getting people treated!” He shouted before looking at his Protector and personal guard. “Ready for some more demons?”

With those words, he charged for the distant demons.

\----

Pat swore and ducked, barely avoiding the swing a demon took at him and Epona.

The main problem with this was the demon was standing in the entrance to the cave Pat needed to access to get to Wade.

And Wade was still dying.

Pat drew his sword, turning to face the demon.

Scales and claws and sickly-colored liquid gleaming and dripping off those appendages.

Pat’s nose wrinkled when the bitter smell of acid reached his nose. Fortunately, he had put on his helmet, so he wasn't getting any direct exposure to whatever was causing the smell.

This was going to downright ruin his sword, wasn't it.

Well, no avoiding this battle. Not if he wanted to save Wade.

So Pat engaged the demon.

Epona danced out of the way and out of the range of the demon whenever Pat gave a gentle touch to the side. He cared enough about Pat that he would have done it even if the human hadn’t given the order to do so. After all, what good was a warhorse without its rider?

Pat pulled Epona back, narrowly avoiding the horse getting hit by the claw of the demon. “Careful.” The words were just a murmur, but that was okay. Epona was always listening.

Epona shook his mane, as if to say “I’m always careful.”

Pat just swung his sword at the demon, sending one of its hands flying with a disgusting  _ skwelch _ .

His sword looked rather thin at the point of impact, like it would break with another good hit.

Well, that just meant he had to kill this demon pretty quickly.

Pat ducked, narrowly dodging a swing from the demon’s remaining hand, hearing a  _ sszzz _ .

The demon staggered, as if thrown off balance by the strength behind the blow Pat had dodged. Taking the opportunity, Pat urged Epona forward and swung, hoping desperately his sword wouldn’t break on contact with the scales.

The sword sunk deep into the demon’s body, and the demon collapsed -- taking Pat’s sword with it.

Pat shook his head and urged Epona into the cave. If anything else was between him and Wade, he would just have to use one of his knives or maybe trample it with Epona.

But he had to get to Wade.

\----

MatPat and his soldiers were getting pretty good at defeating demons by the time they’d worked their way to what seemed to be makeshift forges.

“How are the protection spells?” Jason -- MatPat’s protector -- asked.

MatPat pulled up short. “They’re...being renewed. Someone’s performing the spells.”

“Who?”

MatPat shook his head helplessly, looking around for the source of the magic. “This way.” He urged his horse onward, closely followed by Jason, leaving the rest of his soldiers to deal with the demon rampaging outside the forges.

The source of the magic turned out to be a woman sitting on a rock, eyes closed. A commoner -- the magic of the Seventh Realm must have been incredibly desperate to keep the spells up if it forced a commoner to do it.

Of course, the demon trying to get to the woman was probably at least part of the reason the magic was that desperate.

There was a man, MatPat noted with surprise, hanging off the demon’s arm with a sword in one hand.

Jason pulled next to MatPat. “Crossbow time.”

MatPat reached for the crossbow latched to his saddle as Jason rode into the clearing to engage the demon. MatPat had managed to make a few special quarrels for it while they traveled, and it looked like he might need to use one. 

At least, Jason thought so, and Jason called the shots when it came to MatPat’s safety.

It was agonizing to watch Jason and the stranger fight the demon alone, so MatPat pulled his horse between the fight and the doomed woman. If the demon managed to kill the others and still came for the woman, MatPat would be there to stop it -- because even though she was still going to die, at least then the protection spells would remain intact.

After another minute of watching the fight, MatPat dismounted and picked a quarrel from where they were stored on his saddle. His crossbow was heavy enough he couldn’t load it on horseback, at least not with any certainty of success or safety.

Crossbow loaded, MatPat carefully took aim. It was hard -- Jason and the stranger were keeping the demon moving, and the stranger kept getting in the way.

But...

There.

MatPat’s aim was close enough, and the bolt sunk deep into the demon’s back. Almost instantly, a web of black and silver spread out from the impact site. Due to the skinless nature of the demon, MatPat got a very good idea of exactly how fast that particular crossbow infected the bloodstream of a demon.

The demon dropped, landing on top of the stranger.

Jason nodded at MatPat, and the lord walked over and helped Jason pull the corpse off the stranger.

The stranger was gasping for air, clearly injured.

“Hey, hang in there.” MatPat said. “We’ll have a healer to you soon.”

The man shook his head, rolling over and pushing himself to his feet. “I can’t leave her unprotected.”

“She’s not. We’re here.” MatPat put his hand on the man’s shoulder, trying to calm him. He could feel Jason glaring at him through their helmets -- why wasn’t MatPat telling this man the woman was going to die from the spells?

A jolt ran through MatPat, and he turned to the woman, expecting to see life leave her body as the protection spells settled.

Instead, she opened her eyes, breathing heavily. “Gar?” She sounded tired, as if she was about to fall asleep.

The man looked up, then pushed past MatPat’s hand and rushed over to her. “It’s okay, Molly.”

She shook her head. “Where’s Wade?”

MatPat looked at her closely as Gar let her lean on him. Her eyes were closing. Soon, she’d take her final breaths.

“We’ll get him.” Gar assured.

Molly nodded, and her eyes closed and her entire body relaxed and slid and would have fallen off the rock if Gar hadn’t caught her.

“Is she dead?” Jason asked.

Gar shook his head. “No. Just very tired.”

MatPat’s eyes narrowed, and he walked over to the woman. “How?”

Gar shrugged. “I guess she wasn’t tested for nobility magic.”

MatPat raised an eyebrow, even though Gar couldn’t see it. Mark had said something about people not being tested. 

“How does she know Lord Barnes?” Jason asked.

Gar looked at them for a long moment, then picked up Molly’s right hand and turned it so her wrist faced the two men. Wade’s symbol was there, shimmering faintly -- fading.

“Did he know she has great magic?” MatPat asked. Or had Wade been an idiot and started the courtship ceremonies with a commoner?

Gar shook his head. “None of us knew.” He picked up Molly. “Come on. Let’s get to Lord Barnes before it’s too late.”

\----

When Pat saw the figure sprawled unmoving on the ground, he jumped off Epona and skidded to a stop kneeling in the large pool of blood.

Wade.


	36. Aftermath

MatPat pulled Molly onto his horse and put Gar behind her. They were weakened, so they needed it more than he did.

Jason didn’t seem too happy about it, but he didn't say anything.

It was slow going, but Gar seemed to know where the demons were keeping Wade. 

The battle was just about over as they were walking through, soldiers finishing off the last demon. There were a lot fewer soldiers than MatPat remembered, but he wasn’t sure if that was a sign of high fatality rates or if Day had produced that many illusions.

Healers were kneeling next to those in most desperate need of treatment, and soldiers that had been fighting just minutes before were now attending to the multitude of people that were now freed from demons.

“Where are we going?” Jason asked.

“The caves.” Gar gestured to the mountain cliff rising close by. “Lord Barnes is being kept in the cell there.” He winced as he spoke, and MatPat made a note to get the man to a healer.

It was easy enough to tell when they'd arrived the right place. A scaled corpse lay in pieces on the ground, a largely dissolved sword in the mix.

“He's inside.” Gar held his arm to his side. “At least, he was the last time I heard anything.”

MatPat nodded. “Stay here, and keep an eye on her.” He dropped the guide rope and helped Gar get Molly down from the horse before helping Gar himself dismount. “A healer should be with you soon enough.”

Gar sat between Molly and the entrance, looking pained. “I'll live without one.”

“I'll deal with that statement later. Jason, let's go.” 

MatPat and Jason entered the cell.

\---

A healer was attending to JP, having already snapped Mark's shoulder back into its socket and stuck it in a sling.

Unfortunately for JP, this particular healer didn't have magic to aid the process. They were qualified anyway.

“It'll take a while for him to heal.” The healer looked at Mark. “But with time, he should make a full recovery.”

Oh good. At least the future of the Seventh Realm was secure.

Now Mark just had to worry about literally everyone ride.

\----

Bob was the one that had found Jack and, with the help of another soldier, brought the now semi-conscious prince to one of the campfires where healers had set up base.

Then he went off looking for more people to get to the healers.

\---

Gar leaned against the cliff wall, then reached for the spell that kept Wade trapped inside. Hopefully, he could break it so they could bring out Wade. Though, if Wade was dead, the spell wouldn't care.

\----

Jason was much more comfortable with MatPat back on a horse than he had been before.

“There's something strange about Gar.” Jason said. “He seems much too calm for someone who just almost died to fighting a demon.”

“I imagine it's the shock of learning of Molly has great magic.” MatPat said (though he too had a nagging feeling something was going on with Gar).

“Shouldn't you refer to her by her title?”

“She hasn't been legally recognized, so she doesn't have a title.”

“What will her title be?”

“That's up to Wade. Or JP, if Wade's too far gone.”

“Do you think he's going to be alright?”

MatPat shrugged. Probably not at first, but maybe with time.

“There.” MatPat steered his horse to where Epona was standing.

He and Jason dismounted, and traveled the remaining feet to the edge of the pool of blood.

Pat was unconscious next to who must have been Wade (though MatPat didn't recognize him at first), but had clearly gotten some healing in before it had gotten to be too much for him.

Jason knelt next to Pat, and MatPat next to Wade. MatPat pulled off his gauntlet and felt for a pulse.

There it was. Faint, and rapid, probably from massive blood loss.

Where was the wound that caused Wade to bleed out? 

MatPat carefully rolled Wade over, inspecting him for wounds. 

Many small abrasions and bruises and such -- Wade had certainly been roughed up -- but nothing life-threatening. Pat had gotten to Wade in time.

“Let's get a stretcher in here.” MatPat said. “I don't want to injure Lord Barnes more than he is already.”

Jason nodded, standing. “Protector Patrck will recover, though it will take time.”

“Let's get everyone back to the city. Stewardess Marie should have places ready to treat those in need of it.”

Jason nodded again. “I'll get some help to get these two to a wagon.”

\----

The journey back to Septimal took five days instead of the three out to the demon camp. At least, the wagon where Wade lay unconscious took that long. Many others got to the city after only three and a half or four days.

An informal group had elected to stay with Wade's (covered) wagon, consisting of a healer for Wade and JP (who was also inside the wagon), Mark with his arm in its sling, Pat on Epona (after he was treated for the acid burns he'd gotten in the fight with that demon), Dlive walking along the side of the wagon, Entoan sitting next to the driver so his feet wouldn't be injured again, MatPat and Jason on their horses, and Gar and Molly taking turns keeping eye on Wade and JP when the healer was resting.

Jack had been sent on ahead in another wagon, unable to ride with his leg broken and MatPat unwilling to have so many high-profile people in one group. Jack had protested, of course, but gave in to let Molly have the wagon space so she could watch Wade.

Gar was currently walking with Dlive, and the healer sitting off the back step of the wagon, so Molly had to be inside with Wade.

“How's he doing?” Mark asked, glancing at the wagon.

“Still unconscious.” The healer sighed wearily. “He took quite a beating, but there's only so much my magic can do to heal wounds from torture and starvation.”

“Shouldn't he have woken up by now, though?” Pat looked over.

“In an ideal world, yes. In an ideal world, though, Protector Patrck never would have had to pull Lord Barnes from the brink of death in the first place.” The healer leaned against the frame of the canvas covering the wagon. “Now, please, let me rest. I want to be able to tend to him if something goes wrong as we journey.”

Pat and Mark exchanged worried looks, but didn't say anything.

“Is there any poison in his bloodstream?” Gar asked.

The healer narrowed her eyes. “I haven't found any. Why?”

“A nagging feeling.” Gar said simply. 

The healer sighed. “I'll check again.” With that, she slid inside the wagon.

\----

It snowed again before the group pulled into Septimal very late at night. Everyone was tired, if not downright exhausted.

“I want to see my family.” Molly broke the silence.

“Okay.” Pat said. “I'll take you home.”

Molly shook her head. “You get to your house. I'll have Gar escort me.”

Gar nodded, and the two walked off down the streets.


	37. Reinstatement

Wade woke to gentle hands changing the bandage on his arm. That was the first thing he noticed.

The second thing he noticed was a familiar presence stretched out next to him, holding one of his hands.

“Molly?” He turned his head to see her.

Molly smiled at him, looking better than Wade had ever seen her. “Welcome back to the world of the living.”

“We thought we were going to lose you for a while.” That was Pat. “But somehow your girlfriend's bodyguard did what the healers couldn't.”

“I told you.” Gar's voice came from Wade's right side, with the injured arm. “He was poisoned.”

“Our healers can handle poisons.”

“Demon poisons?”

Wade blinked. “Why is Pat here?”

“Well, I'm guarding you in your rooms while you don't wake up.” Pat said. “Since I'm not allowed to help with any kind of patrols until I heal.”

“You up to sitting?” Molly asked, sitting up herself.

Wade slowly nodded. “If I'm in my rooms, why are you here?”

“You seemed less likely to die with her by your side. I suspect it has something to do with you being in courtship ceremonies with her.” Pat said.

There was Pat, Wade noticed as his vision stabilized. Sitting in the chair next to the fireplace across the room. And Gar, just to the right of Wade's bed, medical supplies on the nearby table.

“You look awful.” Pat supplied. “Though you looked worse when you didn't have a beard.”

Wade tilted his head. “I didn't have access to a razor for three months. I should have a beard still after that.”

“You do now. They had to shave you to keep your beard from getting caught in the cuts on your face as they healed.”

Wade made a face. “I don't think I like that idea.”

“Lord Patrick seemed more comfortable with you clean shaven.”

“He would. He always used to see me that way.” Wade frowned. “When was MatPat here?”

“He helped us defeat the demons and rescue the missing people. He left for his own home early yesterday, so we'll have to send a messenger after him to let him know you're awake.”

“... How long was I unconscious?”

“A week and a half.” Molly spoke this time.

Wade paused. “Who did the protection spells? Has JP improved that much? Because the spells after very much intact.”

“JP hates healing from that many broken bones. But no. He spends most of his free time sleeping.” Pat crossed his arms.

“I've been performing the spells.” Molly said quietly.

Wade looked her. “You're not dead.”

Molly shrugged. “Nope.”

“They tested her a few days ago.” Pat sighed. “She slipped through. Never got tested. If she had, she'd be Havendal’s replacement and not you.”

“I'm glad she was missed then.” Wade smiled Molly. “Otherwise I'd never have met her.”

Pat made a gagging sound. “Can you not while I'm in the room.”

“Pat, you're almost always in the same room as me.”

“Gotta do my job.”

Something in Pat's voice caught Wade's attention, and he looked at the others. “I think Pat and I need to talk alone.”

“Sure.” Molly said, hugging him before moving off Wade's bed. “Come on Gar. My sister wants to show off her new puppies.”

Gar nodded, and followed.

“What's wrong?” Wade asked his Protector and friend.

Pat’s shoulders dropped. “I failed you. I should have prevented you from being taken. I should have found you. I should have rescued you before ...”

Before Wade had been tortured.

“You kept me from dying.” Wade pointed out. “That's your job. And you did it.”

Pat let out a stuttered sigh. “I was so afraid you'd never wake up.”

“But I did.” Wade choose to ignore how weak he felt, and how he probably couldn't even sit up by himself, or how it would likely take him months to fully recover physically.

... He didn't have months. He had to attend his brother's wedding.

“But --”

“Patrck, stop that. You did what you could.” Wade did his best to glare at his friend. “How long is it until Josh's wedding?”

“By now? About two months.”

Wade groaned. “JP is in no condition to ride a horse that far. We'll have to leave earlier than planned.”

“JP? What about you? You can barely stay awake.” Pat hesitated. “Maybe you shouldn't go. You're still so badly injured I'm sure they'd understand.”

Wade closed his eyes. “No. I'm going to my brother's wedding. JP is coming.”

“What about Molly?”

“I would hope so, but it's really her choice.”

Pat sighed. “Get some rest. I'll ask the healer how quickly you can travel, and make plans with Mk.”

Wade had already drifted off to sleep.


	38. Epilogue: Preparation

Molly looked at the carriage, and then at JP carefully climbing into the saddle of his horse -- Pineapple, if she remembered the right name. The Heir was barely healed enough to ride a horse without keeping his broken bones from healing, but here he was. Getting on a horse.

“Nothing faster than a walk.” Bob reminded JP. “You'll get hurt if you fall off.”

JP laughed nervously. “I'm not even moving and I think I'm going to fall off.”

“And this is why Wade won't be riding.” Bob started leading the horse around. 

“I thought it was so he could be alone with Molly in the carriage.”

“That too.”

Molly looked at the truck loaded onto the carriage. They were leaving tomorrow, even with snow still on the ground, so they could travel slow enough to keep Wade in good health.

Well, at least keep him from worse health.

Wade had been awake for two weeks now, and while he hadn't worsened, he'd had to resume his duties as Lord of the Seventh Realm and hadn't actually recovered much beyond the point when he'd woken.

Though he had at least stopped looking like death warmed over. He'd improved to “downright awful.” That was probably in part to Mark and Jack talking with Wade and helping him get the Realm organized.

“Are you ready for this?” Gar asked from where he stood a few feet behind her.

Molly turned and looked at him, then nodded. “I don't know how I'm going to manage the culture of nobles.”

“Wade’s planning lessons.”

“All the same.” Molly looked at the carriage again. “Though the dresses are pretty.”

The dresses were the clothes Molly was to wear during the trip, at least once they stopped traveling. They were much fancier than anything Molly had seen before, but they looked noble and made her  _ feel _ noble.

Gar laughed. “Of course they're pretty. Wade wants nothing but the best for you.”

“You got a new outfit, too.” Molly pointed out.

“Three of them. And they all look the same.” Gar smiled. “That's the benefit of being bound to you, my lady. I get very comfortable uniforms and actual armor. Your symbol is lovely, too, and I think it rather completes my uniform.”

Molly laughed. “Of course you would. It's a fox.”

A fox in the shape of a heart. The symbol Wade wore on his wrist that told everyone he was courting her.

“Don't you know? Pink and black go wonderfully together.”

Pat stepped outside, smiling. “I think red and black are better.”

Gar rolled his eyes. “You're just saying that because you and Wade wear those colors.”

“Hey, give the guy a break. He's kinda our boss, after all.”

“I thought he was going to come outside today.” Molly said. 

Pat shook his head. “The cold is too much. Keeps aggravating his breathing. Apparently he has burns in his lungs somehow. Healer ordered him to stay inside until we leave tomorrow.” Pat turned to Molly. “Means you'll have to keep an eye on him as we travel and help him out if he gets too much cold air.”

“The man is going to be pale as a ghost by the time we get there.” Gar leaned against the fortress wall.

“At least he won't be a ghost.” Molly pulled her cloak tighter around her -- it had been another gift from Wade. “Is he available to talk?”

“He's resting in his rooms, but I don't think he's asleep.” Pat replied.

Molly nodded and went inside, Gar following a few feet behind.

This was going to be an adventure, wasn't it? Her first event as a noble -- the royal wedding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo! Thus it ends. And by that, I mean we go onto the next fic in the series (The Royal Wedding). I should have the first chapter of that posted by the time you guys are reading this. Thank you all so much for reading, and I hope you'll join me in the next one!


End file.
